Radio România Internațional

Tag: migrant crisis

  • August 21, 2017 UPDATE

    August 21, 2017 UPDATE

    VISIT – French President, Emmanuel Macron, on Thursday will pay a formal visit to Romania, at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis. The visit was agreed upon during the bilateral talks the two officials had on the sidelines of the European Councils June session, in Brussels. On that occasion, President Iohannis voiced Romanias determination to remain Frances staunch partner and to support, together with France, the re-launch of the European project. The talks between the two leaders will lay emphasis on ways to develop and deepen the bilateral relation under the strategic partnership and also on focal points of interest on the international and European agenda and on security issues. At economic level, talks will aim at boosting two-way trade exchanges, also by diversifying the fields of cooperation. Given the tradition and cultural affinities between the two states, the talks in Bucharest will also focus on cooperation during the 2018 – 2019 Romania-France Cultural Season.



    MIGRANTS – Romania is a transit rather than a destination country for migrants, facing a relatively small number of refugees, migrant pressure being moreover exerted on Central and Northern Europe, Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu said in Bucharest on Monday. He said Romania didnt accept the idea of a mandatory refugee quota to relocate migrants, but it will comply with its duties entailed by its status of EU member state. Melescanu made this statement against the backdrop of a recent surge in illegal border crossing attempts in Romania by migrant groups. Romanian Coast Guard policemen on Sunday night intercepted, in the Black Sea, a small boat with some 70 illegal migrants on board, among whom 23 children. They were Iraqi and Syrian nationals. On August 13, another boat under Turkish flag with 69 illegal migrants of Iraqi nationality on board was intercepted by the Coast Guard in Romanias territorial waters, and two human traffickers, a Bulgarian and a Cypriot nationals, were taken into custody by the line authorities. On Monday, Romanian border policemen on duty at Nadlac II, in the west, found 42 people from Iraq, Syria and the Comoro Islands hiding in a truck driven by a Turkish national, with the intention of illegally leaving Romania to reach a Schengen country. Another group made up of 24 Syrian and Iraqi migrants who intended to illegally cross Romanias national border, guided by a Romanian citizen, were stopped on Sunday night by border police officers at the Nadlac border crossing point.



    ATTACKS– The Catalan police has
    confirmed that the alleged perpetrator of the Barcelona attack, Moroccan     Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, was shot dead in Subirats, west of Barcelona, on
    Monday. He has been identified as the driver of the van
    who ploughed through Barcelona’s Las Ramblas
    crowd, killing 13 people. Also on Monday     the regional interior minister,
    Joaquim Forn, announced that death
    toll taken by the two attacks carried out last week in the Spanish region of
    Catalonia, in Barcelona and     Cambrils, and claimed by the Islamic State,
    rose to 15. The last victim is a man stabbed to death, found in a car which
    tried to drive past a police road block just hours after the Barcelona attack.
    The policemen haven’t linked the incident to the attacks in Catalonia so far. The
    perpetrators of the two attacks were members of a Jihadist cell comprising 12
    people. On Monday, Romanian political leaders signed the book of condolences
    opened by the Spanish Embassy in Bucharest, in respect and remembrance of the
    victims of the recent attacks.



    TENNIS – Romanias best ranking tennis player Simona Halep was trounced by Spanish challenger Garbine Muguruza 6-1, 6-0 in the finals of the WTA tournament in Cincinnati with over two million and a half dollars in prize money. Halep, the worlds second best tennis player has for the third time missed the chance of becoming WTA number one. We recall the Romanian player lost the Roland Garros finals to Jelena Ostapenko and the quarters in Wimbledon to Johanna Konta. Simona also lost the finals in Cincinnati to Serena Williams in 2015 and was stopped in her tracks last year in the semis by Angelique Kerber.

  • Romania to boost contribution to migrant management efforts

    Romania to boost contribution to migrant management efforts

    An issue that has dominated political agenda in recent months, the migration crisis is still in need of a solution from the European Union. The EU leaders meeting in Brussels last week reached a major deal with Turkey in this respect.



    As of midnight Sunday, all migrants arriving in the Greek islands from Turkey will be sent back to Turkey if their asylum application is rejected. In return, the EU countries will relocate thousands of migrants from Turkey. The scheme is temporary and once the flow of refugees is curbed, it will be replaced by a voluntary humanitarian admissions scheme.



    German chancellor Angela Merkel said the agreement with Turkey is an important step demonstrating that Europe is capable of managing such challenges. Romanias president Klaus Iohannis, who also attended the Brussels summit, hailed the deal, which he believes will significantly reduce or even halt the flow of illegal migrants. He said the decisions taken on Friday do not imply additional quotas for Romania and the relocation of migrants will respect the quotas established last year. Romania has agreed to receive more than 6,000 refugees in the next two years.



    The European Union has vowed to speed up the disbursement of the 3 billion euros initially allocated to help Turkey and provide a further 3 billion once the money runs out. In return, Turkey pledged to take any necessary measures to prevent new migration routes.



    At the summit, Romania committed to boost its contribution to the European efforts to manage the migration crisis by sending in a further 70 police officers, six special vehicles, two patrol ships and other types of logistical equipment, the countrys interior minister Petre Toba has said.



    Romania has thus made one of the most substantial offers of support, after France and Germany. To coordinate this international mission, a coordination unit was established at the Greek defence ministry. Romania is already the second largest contributor to Frontex missions after Germany, with 72 police officers, 10 special vehicles, one ship and one helicopter.


  • EU–Turkey Dialogue on Migrant Crisis

    EU–Turkey Dialogue on Migrant Crisis

    In Mondays summit in Brussels, EU leaders postponed for next week the adoption of a concrete plan to solve the migrant crisis. They decided to further look into Turkeys proposal and agreed, in principle, to provide additional funds to Ankara to help the refugees in that country.



    Attending the summit, the Prime Minister of Romania Dacian Ciolos explained that no decision could be made in the current format but that a declaration had been issued, entrusting the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, with holding talks with the member states in the forthcoming days, until the next summit due on March 18-19.



    The Romanian official said Turkeys proposal on how to manage the migrants were “generally well received by the EU leaders, and its implementation would deter illegal migration to the EU within weeks. In his opinion, the goal of the agreement with Ankara would be to curb the illegal crossing from Turkey to Greece and therefore to protect the EU external borders.



    Dacian Ciolos: “This proposal coming from Turkey means that Turkey undertakes to take over all the illegal migrants crossing the border into Greece, and therefore reaching the EU, and to return those who do not come from Syria to their home countries and only accept as asylum-seekers the Syrians on Turkish territory and under Turkeys responsibility. But Ankara wants the EU to take in one refugee for each migrant that does not qualify for asylum in Europe and is returned to Turkey.



    Turkey also expects the EU to step up talks on its stalled accession process and wants a quicker liberalisation of the visa regime. The latter had already been planned for this autumn, but Turkey wants visas lifted much sooner, namely in June.



    Meanwhile, Romania has received a small portion of its migrant quota, and the US Ambassador Hans Klemm has urged Romanians to show tolerance and treat the Middle East refugees with dignity and compassion. He said that the people who flee war must not be seen as a prospective burden for society, but rather as a source of development. The first 15 refugees reached Romania last week, and according to the quota system outlined in Brussels, over 6,000 others are to be sent to this country in the next two years. At present, Romania only has accommodation facilities for 1,500 refugees.

  • January 20, 2016

    January 20, 2016

    DIPLOMACY – The PM of Romania, Dacian Cioloş, is on a two-day visit to Paris, as of today, at the invitation of the French President Francois Hollande. The main topics of the talks with the French officials are the privileged traditional relations between Romania and France, the means to step up projects in the roadmap of the bilateral strategic partnership, to encourage economic relations and strengthen contacts with the business communities. The parties will also discuss topics on the international and European agenda, like terrorism, migration and the EU security policy. Also today, Dacian Cioloş will have meetings with the Romanian students at the Political Science University and with members of the Romanian community in France. On Thursday, Ciolos is scheduled to meet managers of major French corporations and to have official talks at the French National Assembly.



    ENERGY – The BRUA pipeline, which will connect the natural gas networks of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, is a major Romanian contribution to enhancing the security of the EU natural gas supplies, by diversifying sources for Central Europe, says the Romanian Ministry of Energy. The Connecting Europe Facility-Energy Committee in the European Commission Tuesday validated the allocation of 179 million euros for the works to be carried out by the Romanian company Transgaz on the national natural gas transport system in view of the development of the BRUA pipeline. The Commission said the BRUA inter-connector is a key step to the development of the EU natural gas market, in that it will enable natural gas to reach Central Europe from the Caspian region and other sources. For 2014-2020, the Commission has earmarked 5.3 billion euro for the trans-European energy infrastructure.



    LEGISLATION – The Constitutional Court of Romania ruled on Wednesday that the law giving special pension benefits to local elected officials is against the Constitution, as notified by the Government. The Court has found that the law is unclear, it discriminates between elected officials and fails to indicate the financing sources. On December 26, 2015, the Government notified the Court that some provisions in the law apparently breach the Constitution, in that they regulate privileges for certain local elected officials, they give special rights retroactively and fail to specify financing sources for the new benefits. The Government warned that there are at least 16,300 potential beneficiaries of the law, and the budgetary strain in 2016 may affect the stability of the fiscal-budgetary framework.



    MOLDOVA – The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova convenes
    today in a special meeting to vote on the governmental team put together by
    the PM designate Pavel Filip, the Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu told
    Moldpres news agency. He said Filip has already presented the governmental team
    and the governing programme. The Democrat Pavel Filip, incumbent Minister of
    Information and Communications, was designated last week to form a new
    government, supported by a Parliamentary majority made up of Democrats, Liberals,
    former Communists and a group of Liberal-Democrats.



    MIGRANT CRISIS – The European Commission is considering measures to distribute migrants more fairly across EU Member states, news agencies report. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, told the European Parliament on Tuesday that the Union has two months to bring the migrant crisis under control, otherwise the Schengen visa-free region may collapse. Donald Tusk also estimated that the EU as a political project would fail unless it manages to manage its external borders properly. He discussed strengthening border controls and stepping up the establishment of reception centres in Greece and Italy, where migrants will be classed as either economic migrants, to be repatriated, or refugees to be sent to Member States under the compulsory quota rules. Yesterday in Prague, the interior ministers of the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), reiterated their opposition to the compulsory quotas and asked for the set-up of efficient ‘hotspot’ centres. According to the figures proposed by the European Commission, Romania is to receive a total 6,351 refugees.



    WEATHER – After snowfalls and blizzard, Romania is facing extreme cold. The capital city Bucharest and 19 counties in the south and centre are until tomorrow morning under a code-yellow warning against extremely low temperatures. Last night at Întorsura Buzăului, in the central-eastern part of the country, a temperature of minus 29.5 degrees Celsius was reported. The noon reading in Bucharest today was minus 9 degrees Celsius. The National Meteorology Agency has issued a code-yellow alert for low temperatures in place as of Thursday until early next week. Well have more on this after the news.


    (translation by: Ana Maria Popescu)

  • September 16, 2015 UPDATE

    September 16, 2015 UPDATE

    ROMANIAN PRIORITIES – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis, who attended a joint session of Parliament on Wednesday, expressed his wish for Romania to have a strong and reliable Parliament, an institution which should enjoy the Romanians confidence. Iohannis underlined that in order to reach this goal, Romania should have good quality laws and the legislature should have functional relations with the other structures of power. Romanias president pointed to some existing problems with respect to the quality and coherence of laws, adding that 80% of the Romanians are dissatisfied with a series of clumsy laws. Iohannis criticized the repeated changes made to some key laws, such as the Fiscal Code, the Education Law and the law on the reform of the healthcare system, delivering a pointed warning over the fact that the way laws change has a negative impact on the efficiency of the public systems, eventually undermining peoples confidence in Parliament. Klaus Iohannis stood for a stable, coherent and predictable legislation, also launching a national debate on education. As regards the refugee crisis, Klaus Iohannis expressed Romanias full support for the countries affected by this crisis, saying our country takes action in the spirit of human rights observance. Iohannis pleaded for a realistic approach, based on dialogue and consultations with the EU countries, also openly opposing a bureaucratic approach. Romanias President also said the next steps Romania should further take with respect to the refugee crisis will be agreed upon during Thursdays meeting of the Countrys Supreme Defence Council.



    REFUGEE CRISIS – Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has announced he will meet his Austrian counterpart Werner Faymann on Thursday, for talks on the refugee issue. He has expressed his countrys readiness to receive refugees, most of whom having the intention to reach Germany and the Nordic countries. Some 300 immigrants crossed the border into Croatia, from Serbia, on Tuesday to Wednesday night, the Croatian Interior Ministry has announced. These are the first refugees to take this alternative route, after Hungary closed its border with Serbia. Hundreds of immigrants protested against the closure of the Serbian-Hungarian border, with Hungary using water cannons to spread the protesting refugees. Meanwhile, the flow of migrants on the Hungarian-Austrian border has almost stopped after the enforcement of the new anti-immigration law adopted by Budapest. Reuters quotes Hungarian police sources as saying the number of refugees has been reduced significantly, to several hundred people, as compared to the record high of some 9,400 people registered on Monday.



    IMMIGRATION STRATEGY – The Romanian Government on Wednesday endorsed the National Strategy on Immigration for the 2015-2018 period and the Action Plan for the current year. The strategy is aimed at managing more efficiently the phenomenon of immigration and includes general and specific strategic objectives and action guidelines which mirror the policies established at European level and adjusted to national realities. Referring to the Action Plan for 2015, the Government says it represents “a means to establish concrete activities to lead to the setting up of a flexible system to curb the phenomenon of migration which is gaining ground.



    MILITARY DRILLS – The “Histria 2015 military drills got underway in several firing grounds across Romania. Some 7,000 employees of the countrys defence, public order and national security institutions took part in the exercise. For the first time ever, live rounds sessions were performed in a firing ground in the western county of Arad, with Europe-based US marines taking part in the exercise. Underlying the joint military undertaking was a complex scenario, tailored for todays security environment, so that Romanian military can accomplish their missions under war conditions and in crisis situations.



    FINANCIAL – The European Commission has decided to resume payments to Romania under two programs, “Economic Competitiveness and “Environment, both suspended in late April. Following this decision, around 120 million Euros will be transferred to the Romanian authorities in the ensuing period of time. The European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, has hailed the efforts made by the Romanian authorities to improve the two programs management and control systems. The European Commission announced in April 2015 that it had found indicators of fraud in the management of the two programs.



    MUSIC – The George Enescu International Festival, one of Europes most prestigious classical music festivals continues in Bucharest and in other cultural centres across the country. For the first time ever, a performance tailored for children and youngsters, “Munchhasusen, the Master of Lies was presented to the public during this edition of the festival. The show is a production of the Comic Opera for Children. It was composed by Dan Dediu and stage-directed by Cristian Mihailescu. On Tuesday, the famous violinist David Garrett gave a concert in Bucharest, being accompanied by the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti. Garrett performed George Enescus Ballad for violin and orchestra, a work he also took on concert stages worldwide.



    SPORTS – Romanias national rugby team on Wednesday left for England, where it is scheduled to play the World Cup fixtures. Romania joins France, Ireland, Canada and Italy in Group D of the competition that kick-starts on Friday. Also known as the Oak Leaf Knights, the Romanian rugby players have taken part in all the seven previous editions of the World Cup, yet they failed to go past the competitions group stage.



  • September 14, 2015

    September 14, 2015

    MIGRANT CRISIS – Brussels will be the venue for the first official meeting of EU member states representatives, who will be holding negotiations on the European Commissions proposal to set compulsory refugee quotas. The increasingly high number of refugees has started to create problems in Germany, which announced it will temporarily reintroduce border controls. A similar decision was made by the Czech Republic. According to the European Commission, an inappropriate response to the refugee influx might put in jeopardy the Schengen free movement area. Deputy prime minister for national security and interior minister, Gabriel Oprea, who represents Romania at the Brussels meeting, has said Bucharest complies with its initial commitments to receive 1,785 immigrants, in line with its current capacity. He will vote against compulsory quotas imposed by the Commission, according to which Bucharest should take in over 6,000 people. Overall, 10 EU member states are opposed to compulsory quotas.



    A NEW SCHOOL YEAR – At the start of a new school year, Romanias president, Klaus Iohannis, has today wished over the 3 million pre-school children and pupils, to enjoy a good year, which should take them closer to their professional and intellectual dreams. He attended the official start of the 2015-2016 school year in the southern Romanian city of Targoviste, where he said education is an issue which should make the object of a national debate and laying emphasis on a pupils education is not a slogan, but a principle. Himself a teacher by profession, Klaus Iohannis underlined that an important element of education is to correlate it with the labour market, the realities and needs of society. issue, later in RN.



    MOLDOVA – The organisers of the anti-government protests in the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population, have urged the population to start an all out strike. The participants in the rally adopted a resolution calling for the setting up of a new political movement and of a so-called government of popular confidence, to replace the current cabinet. Some incidents were also reported when a group of young people, who claimed the only solution to overcome the crisis in the Republic of Moldova is to unite with neighbouring Romania, were forced out of the square.



    DIPLOMACY – Romanian foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, is currently on a visit to Turkmenistan. He is due to meet his counterpart Rashid Meredov and to be received in audience by president Gurbanguli Berdamuhamedov. High on the agenda of the talks will also be the relation between the two countries, laying special emphasis on economic cooperation in the field of energy and transports. The Romanian official pays this visit in the context of diplomatic demarches being made in order to boost Romanias foreign policy actions in its eastern neighbourhood and in Central Asia.



    EGYPT – 12 tourists have been killed accidentally by the Egyptian security forces, who opened fire at some vehicles with Mexican tourists onboard in the Western Dessert, the Egyptian Interior Ministry announced on Monday. 10 others have been injured. The tourist car convoy entered a restricted area, while the joint police and armed forces were following Islamist militants. After the former Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was removed from power by the army, in 2013, following violent protests, the Egyptian security forces were the target of various attacks committed by the militants.



    MUSIC – The “George Enescu International Festival continues in Romania. Performing in the “Great Orchestras of the World series will be the Choir and Orchestra of the George Enescu Philharmonics in Bucharest. European classical music orchestra “Les Dissonances will perform as part of the “Chamber Recitals and Concerts series. Last night in Bucharest, Richard Strausss “Elektra, considered to be one of the most difficult pieces of music was performed by the Bavarian Satate Orchestra, conducted by Sebastian Weigle, with the participation of the Radio Academic Choir, under the baton of Dan Mihai Goia.



    SPORTS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has consolidated its second position in WTAs rankings, made public today, after she reached the semi-finals of the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. Ranking first is American player Serena Williams. Russian Maria Sharapova, who didnt play at the tournament in New York ranks third. The surprise winner of the US Open, Italian Flavia Pennetta, is ranking eights. Four other Romanians are among the top players of the world: Irina Begu ( WTA ranking: 30), Monica Niculescu (WTA ranking: 39), Alexandra Dulgheru (WTA ranking: 52) and Andreea Mitu (WTA ranking: 79 WTA).

  • September 11, 2015

    September 11, 2015

    MIGRANT CRISIS — The Vishegrad Group foreign ministers- of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia-are today meeting in Prague with their counterparts from Germany and Luxembourg, for talks on the migrant crisis, which is deepening by the day. The Vishegrad Group member states voiced dissatisfaction with the quota regime set by the EU. In turn, Romania has expressed reticence with the so-called mandatory quotas of immigrants, that the EU member states will give shelter to. In another move, Hungary has today announced it supplemented by 3,800 the number of military deployed on the border with Serbia, to cope with the growing flow of immigrants, which last night registered a record high of 3,600 people. Austria has today announced it closed the Nickelsdorf checkpoint, on the border with Hungary, because of the high number of immigrants, some 8,000, who crossed the border within 24 hours. According to an official with the UN High Commissioner’s Office for Refugees, over 7,600 other refugees, entered Macedonia, coming from Greece, over the last 24 hours.



    COMMEMORATION — Romania is further firmly committed to the international effort to fight terrorism and extremism, Romanian deputy prime minister and interior minister Gabriel Oprea said today, in a message delivered in commemoration of 14 years since the 9/11 terror attacks in the US. According to Oprea, the terror attacks in the US as well as in other European countries have shown that terrorism can hit anywhere and anytime and that no country is fully defended against this scourge. The relationship between Romania and US gained a new significance in the wake of the tragedy that struck on September 11, Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu said. In a message to US Secretary of State, John Kerry, marking 14 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which claimed the lives of 3,000 US citizens, including members of the Romanian-US community, Aurescu reiterated Romania’s determination to carry on, alongside the US and its international partners, the efforts meant to prevent and fight this threat, irrespective of its forms of manifestation. He evoked the significant role of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the US in boosting bilateral relations and ensuring common security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region.



    MOLDOVA — The prime minister of the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population, Valeriu Streletz, has said the country’s existence is in jeopardy. Against the backdrop of prolonged, one week long antigovernment protests in downtown Chishinau, the prime minister said the problems that prompted people to take to the street, such as corruption, poverty and the lack of confidence in the political class, are the outcomes of accumulated process which unfolded over many years. Strelets has added that his cabinet, which took office in late July, will resign only after a vote of confidence in Parliament. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people protested near the government building, demanding the resignation of the cabinet and of president Nicolae Timofti and calling for early elections. Hundreds of them decided to stage protests around the clock, placing tents in front of the government building. Declaring itself of pro-Western orientation, the three-party ruling coalition dramatically lost credibility in Moldova, after one million US dollars from the country’s banking system, the equivalent of 15% of Moldova’s GDP, vanished into thin air, in unclear, mysterious circumstances.



    FESTIVAL — The “George Enescu” International Festival continues in Bucharest. Performing on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum today will be Konzerthausorchester Berlin, conducted by Horia Andreescu. Another highlight of the day is the concert given by the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, as part of the “Great Orchestras of the World” series. The 13th day of the festival ends with a concert given by the Chamber Orchestra of Paris. Over 3,000 Romanian and foreign artists in the world musical elite will be performing on the stage of the festival, one of the largest events of its kind in Europe, which runs through September 20. Tens of indoor concerts and outdoor events are being held throughout the festival.



    TENNIS — Second seeded Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, who has qualified for the first time to the semi-finals of the US Open in New York, is today facing Italian Flavia Pennetta (WTA rank: 26). Playing the other semi-finals will be first seeded American player Serena Williams and Italian Roberta Vinci. The games, initially scheduled for Thursday, have been postponed for today by the organisers of the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, because of rain.

  • How many refugees can Romania take in?

    How many refugees can Romania take in?

    Romania can host 1,785 refugees in six temporary reception centers. Our country has expressed its solidarity with EU Member States hit by a large wave of immigrants fleeing conflicts in the Middle East or Northern Africa. According to president Klaus Iohannis, there is no immigrant pressure in Romania at present, which is why our country will employ responsibility and calm when dealing with this issue.



    On September 17 the president has summoned the countrys Supreme Defense Council in a special session in order to present his standpoint on our countrys voluntary quotas for the distribution of refugees. The British press last week wrote that responding to Brussels request, Romania was to take in some 7,000 refugees, which the Romanian authorities dismissed at the time.



    President Iohannis said that Romania shares Europes concern for the growing phenomenon of migration and that in order to avoid xenophobic or chauvinistic reactions, each country should be allowed to submit its own refugee quotas. Physical space for taking in refugees is one problem, as old barracks might be turned overnight into reception centers. But the more complex problem is integrating refugees into the Romanian society. This view was recently shared by Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who said Romania cannot receive a number of immigrants above its reception capacity.



    Victor Ponta: “Romania needs to be a European country and display solidarity with everything thats happening in Europe. And this solidarity entails rights and obligations, meaning we have the same obligations as other states, we need to have the same rights, too. And now maybe other people will realize the injustice Romania has suffered with Schengen accession. The very countries calling on us to show solidarity in the refugee crisis are the exact countries that repeatedly postponed a decision on our Schengen accession.



    Romanias accession to the travel-free Schengen area was postponed, although our country has fulfilled our technical accession criteria. This however may turn to our advantage, president Iohannis believes. No one will simply allow Romania to enter Schengen without proper monitoring. European leaders and politicians are now calling for a review of the way Schengen is really functioning.



    These talks can be very delicate, which is why Romanian authorities have included on the agenda of the Supreme Defense Council meeting of September 17 an analysis of Romanias bid to join Schengen. In the meantime, Romanias Foreign Ministry is looking at the possibility of finding a solution to counter not only the effects, but also the root cause of the mass exodus of refugees. The discussion about distribution quotas, the Ministry believes, does not even touch the surface of the problem.