Schengen: Halt!
‘Corruption and shortcomings in the field of the judiciary’ were the reasons German Minister of Internal Affairs mentioned when reconfirming Germany’s opposition to the entry of Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen Area.
Articol de Bogdan Mihai, 21 Ianuarie 2011, 09:46
Germany continues to oppose Schengen membership for Romania and Bulgaria, the German Minister of Interior stated on Thursday, as quoted by AFP.
‘Both countries have made huge efforts to meet the technical requirements of the Schengen system. Those efforts are deserving of praise,’ Thomas de Maiziere stated at an informal meeting of EU interior and justice ministers.
‘At the same time, there are shortcomings and criticisms about the judiciary and about corruption",’ he added, underlining that ‘it is important to link’ the technical aspects and the political problems the judiciary and corruption raises.
‘Afterwards, we will make a decision’, Thomas de Maiziere added.
The German Minister of Interior described as ‘premature’ the entry of Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen Area which comprises 25 countries, reconfirming thus the position both France and Germany adopted.
Allowing a country to join the Schengen Area must be agreed by all member states and, technically, Germany and France’s opposition have the power of veto.
Hungary, which currently holds the EU presidency, has supported the accession of both countries to the Schengen Area on condition that they fulfill the technical requirements. On Wednesday, Hungarian Minister of Interior Sandor Pinter announced that Romania is better prepared than its southern neighbour.
The Schengen Area allows its over 400 million citizens to travel from Greece to Finland or from Portugal to Poland without border controls.
Romania and Bulgaria entered EU in 2007, three years after most former Communist countries had.
October 2011, the next possible deadline
In December, the German and the French Ministers of Interior send a letter to the European Commission requesting the postponement of Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen Area.
Both officials underlined the absence of an adequate administrative and judicial environment, the endemic corruption and the worrying persistence of the organized crime.
The officials added that all the above mentioned problems could have a negative impact on the surveillance of a strategic region and also on the full access to the Schengen data bases.
Hannes Swoboda, the vice president of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, estimates that by the end of next year Romania will have entered the Schengen Area in October 2011, if it fails to do so in March.
Translated by: Raluca Mizdrea
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University
