Agony and ecstasy on Romania’s road to Schengen. TIMELINE with all the key events related to Romania’s Schengen accession this year

Romania’s accession to Schengen has caused a dizzying carousel of political and diplomatic events over the past half year. It all started with the OK from France and Germany and went through Austria’s last-minute opposition, the Netherlands’ dramatic change of position and the Swedish ‘surprise’. G4Media has inventoried the highlights of the Schengen accession dossier.

Events were precipitated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which made Romania a key player in the West’s efforts to help Ukraine take in war refugees and send arms, ammunition and aid.

At the same time, the government in Bucharest has rushed through its justice laws, which have been criticized by some in the media and civil society for mimicking reform. The adoption of the justice laws was a prerequisite for the lifting of the CVM, on which a positive assessment of the Netherlands then depended.

June 15: French President Emmanuel Macron announces France’s support for Romania’s accession to Schengen. In a joint press conference with Klaus Iohannis at the Mihail Kogălniceanu military base, Macron says: „We want the dossier to move forward, France stands by Romania.”

August 29: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announces for the first time that he agrees to Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania joining the Schengen area. Scholz said in a speech in Prague that the three countries are ready for Schengen membership.

September 5. Rareș Bogdan announced that the Czech EU Presidency has convened the interior ministers of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia on September 13 to discuss Schengen accession, „Czech Deputy Prime Minister Vit Rakušan, who is also interior minister, said a few minutes ago in the European Parliament’s LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) Committee that one of the ambitions of the Czech EU Presidency is to speed up the procedures for the accession of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia.”

September 7: The Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency, announces that it wants Schengen for Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. „This is one of the great ambitions of the Czech presidency,” says Czech interior minister Vít Rakušan, speaking on behalf of the EU presidency. Czech support was decisive in putting the dossier on the EU agenda.

September 13. Turmoil across the Romanian political scene as authorities and parties try to prevent a Dutch veto after a party in the Dutch government coalition signals it would oppose Romania’s accession. The diplomatic jitters were prompted by indications that the CDA, a party in the Dutch government coalition led by Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, is reluctant to allow Romania to join the Schengen area.

October 5. Rareș Bogdan threatens a food crisis if Romania is not welcomed into Schengen: What more do we have to do to be respected, block trains and hundreds of grain trucks at the border?

October 6. Facing criticism for not waiting for the Venice Commission’s opinion on the justice laws, Justice Minister Cătălin Predoiu said „we have an essential objective in the autumn, Schengen accession, which is linked in some countries to the progress of the CVM”.

October 6: The Minister of the Interior, Lucian Bode, announced for the first time the date of December 8 for joining Schengen. He said that on 8 December the EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council will take place and then there are hopes that Romania will be accepted into the Schengen Area. Also then, Bode announced that a mission to assess the fulfilment of Schengen obligations was carried out in Romania by European Commission experts at the invitation of the Romanian government.

October 12: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was unhappy with the way the European Commission’s Schengen evaluation mission went. In a press conference with President Iohannis in Cincu, Mark Rutte said the mission „could have been broader, deeper” and said the Netherlands had not sent a representative on the evaluation mission.

October 12. Also in Cincu, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that the Netherlands officially links its position on Schengen to the outcome of the CVM.

„It is very important that all the information is on the table. The European Commission is working now. The Netherlands is not opposed to Romania joining Schengen, but we have to do it in a correct way, that’s why we mentioned the CVM, we have to have a better structural rule of law. About corruption, organized crime, that’s what the CVM is about and then we have to assess it together,” said Mark Rutte.

October 18. Help for Romania from the European Parliament, which overwhelmingly adopted a resolution in favor of Romania’s accession to Schengen. It was the fourth such resolution. The resolution was adopted by 547 votes to 49 with 43 abstentions.

November 15. A new problem in the Schengen dossier arose in Sweden. Representatives of the parties affiliated to the European families S&D and ECR, which together hold a majority in the Swedish Parliament, announced their reluctance to Romania’s accession to the Schengen area on immigration grounds (source).

November 16: The European Commission’s Schengen evaluation mission to Romania gives a positive report. The European Commission called on the EU Council to take „without delay” the necessary decisions to allow Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia to fully participate in the Schengen area. Romania has high-quality and robust border management, including border surveillance and systematic border controls, the official European Commission report said.

November 16. G4Media has compiled an inventory of the sensitive issues that did not feature in the European Commission’s glowing report on Romania’s readiness to join Schengen

November 16. The Netherlands sends its own Schengen evaluation mission to Romania at the invitation of the Romanian government. The decision came after prime minister Mark Rutte said he was unhappy with the commission’s mission.

November 18. Major surprise in Austria: Vienna’s interior minister announces that he opposes Schengen membership for Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said „the system is dysfunctional. The situation in Europe shows very clearly that the protection of external borders has failed,” adding that his country faces 100,000 illegal migrants.

November 22: The European Commission recommended in its latest CVM report that Romania’s monitoring should be stopped, after 15 years of operation of the instrument. Lifting the CVM was a key condition for the Netherlands to stop opposing Romania’s entry into Schengen.

November 23: The new Dutch Schengen evaluation mission gave a positive report for Romania. The report of the evaluation mission is similar to the previous one and is favorable to Romania and Bulgaria, showing that „Romania continues to fulfil the necessary conditions for the application of all relevant parts of the Schengen acquis in full”.

November 23 Partial change of position by Austria. The Chancellor criticized only Romania and Bulgaria and praised Croatia. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the day before a visit to Zagreb that Vienna does not have a problem with Croatia’s Schengen accession, pointing out that the country protects its borders well. Instead, he said Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary let illegal migrants cross their borders.

November 25: Austrian Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler, leader of the ruling Green Party, announced his support for Romania’s Schengen accession and rejected the veto announced by the Interior Minister

December 2: Radical change of position by the Netherlands. The government in The Hague announced in a press release that it „is forward-looking regarding Romania’s Schengen accession” and informed Parliament of Romania’s progress.

December 2: The issue with Sweden has been resolved. The European Affairs Committee in the Swedish Parliament has given its consent for Romania’s Schengen accession, and a positive vote is binding on the Government.

December 6. Austria’s Chancellor stands firm and again announces his opposition to Romania’s Schengen accession, despite a diplomatic tour de force by Romanian and European officials. Chancellor Karl Nehammer made the remarks at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Tirana, Albania, after talks with President Klaus Iohannis and after Interior Minister Lucian Bode met his Austrian counterpart Gergard Karner in Vienna.

December 7. The vote on Romania’s Schengen accession will be on the agenda of the decisive JHA Council meeting on Thursday 8 December, say MEPs Siegfried Mureșan and Rareș Bogdan. Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă had requested this since Wednesday morning.

December 7. The Dutch Parliament approved the position in favor of Romania’s entry into Schengen. Parliament’s decision was crucial for the Dutch government.

December 7. Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party, became the first European politician to link Austria’s veto to Russia’s interest in weakening the European Union. During a visit to Vienna on Wednesday, he criticized the Austrian government’s stance on Schengen membership and said that in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, „Russia is interested in splitting the European Union area”.

Traducere (Ovidiu Harfas)