Do Romania and Bulgaria really deserve the keys to the EU unconditionally? A few observations on the glowing assessment of the European Commission of the Romanian border security

The European Commission on Wednesday called on the EU Council to take the necessary decisions „without delay” to allow Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia to participate fully in Schengen, after the European Parliament also voted a resolution in mid-October calling on Member States to end discrimination and admit the two countries to the free movement area.

The report on Romania voted on Tuesday in the Board of Commissioners describes a perfectly functional state according to Schengen standards, with vigilant customs, extraordinarily well-trained officials, „state of the art” equipment, systems and mechanisms in place. In its public communication, the Commission is full of platitudes and superlatives.

„Romania has high-quality and robust border management,” the two countries „have also substantially strengthened the overall application of the Schengen architecture in all its dimensions” and have proven that they „have an exemplary track record in implementing the Schengen rules,” says a Commission release. The detailed technical report is even more generous in its praise.

In addition, the report mentions that „Romania has a National Anti-Corruption Strategy and that anti-corruption measures have been introduced at all levels through law enforcement institutions”.

The European Commission’s glowing assessment is undoubtedly the result of intense political lobbying by the authorities in Bucharest and Sofia, who took full advantage of the Czech EU Presidency’s willingness to put the issue on the agenda. For President Klaus Iohannis, Schengen is the lifeline of his two terms in office. If he ticks Schengen off, he leaves a mark on Romania’s history. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t.

The Commission and Parliament’s position puts additional pressure on Member States, who will have to decide in the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 8 December whether the time has come for Romania and Bulgaria to be entrusted with the keys to the Union’s eastern borders.

 

If we are to join the Schengen area, everything that floods in from outside the Union from the east (migrants, drug smuggling networks, human trafficking networks, organised crime, possibly terrorism, Russian espionage, etc.) should just cross Romania and Bulgaria’s borders and then be free to go all the way to the heart of Europe. Incidentally, both countries are already massively exporting crime to the West, of their own making.

 

Surely the Germans, the French, the Belgians or the Austrians want that? Does the Western world really believe that the Romanian and Bulgarian customs, border guards, country policemen, Romanian and Bulgarian prosecutors are truly reformed and functioning institutions that will have the capacity to keep the EU border safe?

 

If they believe that, then good luck after they expand the Schengen area, if they really do. Anything coming from the East will not stay in Romania or Bulgaria. Western countries, which today are lying to themselves that everything is OK at the eastern border, are the final destination. Once in Romania from the Republic of Moldova or Ukraine, anyone can go as far as Berlin, Paris or Brussels, the capital of Europe, without encountering any border, checkpoint or customs. Green everywhere in the EU.

Who benefits from a politically cosmeticized report, in which not a word is said about the corruption in Romanian customs, from where the National Anti-Corruption Agency (DNA) can pick up customs officers by the busload whenever it wants? Why is the European Commission lying to itself when it votes for a report that says nothing about the non-functioning scanners in customs, the joy of the smuggling trucks?

How is it possible that they don’t say a word about the tons of drugs that have washed up on the Black Sea coast or about the surveillance systems that was turned off on command, a sign that entire networks have been operating there for years? How come there is no mention in the Commission’s report of the smuggling planes constantly flying under the radar from Ukraine or Moldova. By what miracle did the experts discover that ‘Romania has high quality and robust border management’ since they did not set foot precisely in the eastern customs posts or the port of Constanta, targets that escaped scrutiny, as is clear from their own report?

 

What is the point of lying to yourself that there are no more problems with human trafficking, when in the latest State Department report the situation in Romania remains at alert level 2, as it has been for the last 10 years?

 

G4Media.ro has made a short inventory of the problems reported in Romanian customs in the last three years, but which do not appear in the triumphalist assessments of Brussels officials. The day-to-day reality contrasts sharply with the Commission’s triumphalist report.  These are truths that everyone knows, that have been documented by the press and the prosecutors, but that are completely ignored in the European Commission’s report.

Just last month, the head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, Laura Codruța Kovesi, pointed out in an interview for G4Media.ro that in eight months of activity of the institution she heads, the Romanian authorities have reported 0 cases of VAT fraud and smuggling, although Romania is an external border.

 

How does the head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office explain the suspicious silence at Romanian customs? „First, either you are not interested in detecting these offences, or you are not trained to detect them, or you are trained but don’t know how to do it, or you report these offences but don’t report them to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. So these are the only possible options. I am convinced that there are good specialists in Romania, in the Customs Authority, in ANAF and in the police. The problem is that these cases have not been referred either to DNA or to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office,” Kovesi said.

 

How can the red lights not light up on the table of the officials with the big hands who have drawn up the assessment of the situation in the police stations when they read such statistics provided by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, a key institution of the European Union? And, above all, how is it possible that this reality is nowhere mentioned in an official report that claims to technically assess the situation in Romanian customs?

Add to all this a practically non-functional justice system, with timid prosecutors and judges buried in cases, with decisions of the CCR or the High Court emptying prisons at regular intervals. However much the Commission claims that justice (MCV report) is not a criterion for Schengen accession, in reality we all know that this is not the case. It is no use the police or customs officers catching smugglers, tax evaders or the heads of organized crime networks, if the Romanian justice system, which has been smashed by politicians, will later set them free and they will be able to flee anywhere in the EU without any restrictions, as most of them already do, but at least we still have some filters at the borders.

 

By the way, how much confidence does the European Commission have in the good faith of the authorities in Bucharest, since only on Tuesday President Klaus Iohannis promulgated the justice laws despite the recommendations of the Justice Commissioner to wait for the opinion of the Venice Commission first? Does the President’s arrogance really tell them nothing, does it even raise a serious question mark?

Is it precisely President Iohannis, under whom Romanian democracy has taken great steps backwards in recent years, preparing to offer the EU a political prize by accepting Romania into Schengen? Have the Brussels bureaucrats learned nothing from their experience with Viktor Orban? Are we really learning nothing from the fact that anti-democratic lapses not sanctioned in time ultimately backfire against the interests of the EU?

An experienced Western observer asked me the other day whether Romania and Bulgaria should not now be admitted to Schengen, imperfect as they are, just as they were admitted to the EU 15 years ago. Even then they were not very well prepared and did not meet all the criteria to the letter, but what would have happened if they had been left out? Isn’t it better, though, that they were accepted and the progress made since then is obvious, the two countries have benefited greatly from the funds, developed and made a historic leap forward towards the western world?

I don’t think there are comparable situations and decisions. Entry into Schengen would certainly benefit citizens and especially companies, which will no longer lose precious time in customs, but in the long term it would be another blow to Romania’s image, reputation and status in the EU and especially to the security of the Western world. We are not doing too well on this score either, but it would be a major mistake on the part of Brussels and the Member States to hand over the keys to the EU’s gates to a country with non-functioning institutions all the way from the East without any additional conditions or precautions. Let us not forget that the eastern border is, however, the final frontier with the war in Ukraine, which is creating huge challenges throughout the region.

 

We have seen that the government propaganda machine, politicians in power and even some European Commissioners qualify any sign of questioning on the issue of Romania’s Schengen accession as an act of national betrayal, a sabotage of a strategic objective and a positioning against the country’s interests. The website of a sovereignist TV station which openly supports the extremist and anti-European AUR party once again describes us as Romania’s „band of enemies” on the grounds that G4Media.ro has inventoried the vulnerabilities in the customs in an article „which may sabotage Romania’s entry into the Schengen area”. It is precisely Romania TV of the fugitive Ghiță that has found itself lecturing us on Europeanism and has become a great supporter of Romania’s integration into Schengen. Once again: Why didn’t their boss flee to a Schengen country, why did he flee to Serbia? Why doesn’t he come home, to Romania, to see for himself how justice works?

Again: Romania’s enemies are those who today think they are doing the country good by hiding the garbage under the carpet, falsifying reality and presenting a country that in reality only exists in the papers of some officials in Brussels, who for 11 years have been saying that Romania is ready to join Schengen but in reality nobody really believed them, as proof that we are not there yet.

There is still an assessment mission from the Netherlands and we will see if the Swedish right-wing government will manage to convince its (opposition) parliamentary majority to support Romania’s EU integration by 8 December. After all, someone has to tell the truth to the end. As in the past, someone must have the courage to say NO, or at least a conditional YES, in order to avoid a decision with disastrous consequences both for the EU in general and for the two countries in particular. There is the honourable option of postponement until the above problems are solved, there is the option of acceptance into Schengen with airports only, where things work significantly better than at land customs, and then there is the option of a conditional YES, Romania’s entry into Schengen with surveillance mechanisms and Western institutional duplication. Shameful, but healthy for everyone.

 

If they decide otherwise, i.e. an admission to Schengen without reservations or minimal conditionalities, then as I said: much success and good luck. We keep our fingers crossed. In our case, they will increase the fees for the Eastern border and that’s about it.