MEP Vasile Blaga (PNL, EPP) took part on 5th October, in the plenary session of the European Parliament, in the debate dedicated to Romania’s accession to the Schengen area.
“As a former Minister of the Interior, I was directly responsible for fulfilling the conditions for Romania’s integration into both the EU and the Schengen area. Romania’s integration into the Schengen area is a subject that concerns me and I treat it very personally”, said the MEP in his speech.
The MEP stressed that there are three main arguments why Romania should have been a member of the Schengen area for years: technical, moral and practical.
“There are three arguments that should lead to a quick decision on the integration of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area. First there is the technical argument, which should be sufficient, as it was sufficient for the other Member States that are already members of the Schengen area. Romania meets all the technical conditions for Schengen, and the war in Ukraine was a test for the EU’s external border, a test that Romania passed with flying colours. The second argument is the moral one: Europe has been teaching us the lesson of solidarity for years. Solidarity in the face of the war for refugees and migrants, solidarity in the face of the energy crisis. Romania has done its homework without comment. We have shown solidarity without reservation and not because anyone forced us to. We did it because Romanian citizens believe in these values. The question is: Is Europe capable of putting into practice to the end the lesson it is teaching? The third argument is a practical one that concerns the future of the European Union. This future is threatened by Euroscepticism and we see this more and more often in national elections. The future of the EU depends on how it treats the citizens of each Member State. Does not the refusal to take a legitimate decision on the integration of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen create a wave of Euroscepticism in these two countries? Isn’t the lesson of Brexit enough?” said the Liberal MEP in his speech in the European Parliament plenary.
The initiative of the Social Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament, the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area was once again debated in the plenary of the European Parliament.
