Wednesday
October 19, 2022
The Schengen domain is undoubtedly one of the EU’s greatest achievements. Unrestricted benefits millions of European citizens and businesses. But for Bulgaria and Romania, the EU has yet to realize this borderless dream.
On the contrary, the procedure of joining the domain of free movement has become a recurring nightmare for two countries on the EU’s external border.
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Last week marked years since conservative governments vetoed Romania and Bulgaria from joining the Schengen area.
Bulgaria and Romania have gone through all stages of the evaluation procedure to register for the block without a passport. That was one component of the agreement. However, despite repeated calls from the European Parliament, the procedure has been unacceptably delayed over the years for reasons absolutely unrelated to the sustainable and culpable control of the EU’s external borders.
Although either country worked hard to make sure it was fit to move freely, more than a decade later, both countries are still waiting. Year after year, the efforts of Sofia and Bucharest have been ignored.
For no objective reason, Romania and Bulgaria have waited too long at the door. Patience has its limits. EU governments continue to betray the EU’s values of solidarity and cohesion.
Europe has been tense on several fronts in recent years.
First of the currency crisis, then of the Covid-19 pandemic and more recently of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the effect of emerging energy prices.
Countries bordering Ukraine have shown unprecedented solidarity in the face of the influx of refugees.
Populist governments in the Council of the EU will now have to abandon double standards and show the same spirit of solidarity.
Europe will have to get back on its feet together. We will have to give the Member States the most productive chance of full recovery with all the means at our disposal. Allowing Romania and Bulgaria to enroll in Schengen will boost economic activity and may help more staff earn better wages.
Being part of Schengen would remove border controls for passenger cars and road transport and waiting times at borders, leaving the days of long queues in a remote memory.
The repercussions of any further postponement can be very costly, both in terms of security and economy. Not only would the economic prices of being outside the Schengen area be maintained, but the threat of distrust in the political will of the European Union to meet its political commitments would also increase.
Today, Europe is living in dubious times. With the war on Europe’s borders, the chains of origin are severely disrupted. There are far-right parties coming to power like Sweden and Italy with the aim of tearing Europe apart.
At the same time, we have the opportunity for the Europeanist sentiment of a generation in Romania and Bulgaria. The most damaged promises will do the opposite.
Failure to ensure that all European citizens can take advantage of freedom of movement within Schengen feeds the feeling of injustice and unfair treatment. Now is not the time to damage the EU’s popularity or undermine joint European action.
Eventually, the political value of this heist can be paid for through pro-European forces. The EU’s evergreen purpose of reducing inequality through a team-spirit policy is also largely undermined by the perpetual blockade of membership.
Now is the time to unite the EU, not to deepen the dividing lines that deserve not to exist in the first place. German Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz understands the desire to focus on unity and recently publicly supported Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia to complete Schengen members. .
That’s why Socialists and Democrats are striving to refocus minds on the EU and put Schengen on the European Parliament’s most sensible calendar this month.
We intend to use all our levers of democratic accountability and control to call on the governments of the Member States to avoid hiding various excuses and to lift all internal border controls with Bulgaria and Romania.
This European Parliament has a duty to constitute all EU citizens in each and every corner of the bloc. We will have to keep up the tension to remind European leaders of their equivalent duty to ensure that Romanian and Bulgarian citizens live their dream as soon as possible. possible.
Iratxe García Pérez is the president of the Group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament and a Spanish MEP. Petar Vitanov, is the head of delegation S
The perspectives expressed in this op-ed are those of EUobserver and not those of EUobserver.
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