(Bloomberg) — The European Union should show solidarity with Romania and end its decade-long wait to enter the visa-free Schengen area after the Balkan nation played a crucial part in helping Ukraine export grain during Russia’s invasion, a top official said.
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Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of Romania’s largest governing coalition party and speaker of parliament, said his nation fulfills all the conditions required to enter the 26-nation Schengen area, which stretches from the Arctic Circle in Finland to the Mediterranean in the south.
Moreover, Romania has shown solidarity with Ukraine and its allies by prioritizing Ukrainian grain exports over its own, he said.
“The Romanian state has acted exemplarily in helping Ukraine, even if we angered our own farmers by shipping out our neighbor’s grains first,” Ciolacu told reporters in Bucharest on Monday. “I think it’s time for Europe to show solidarity with us.”
Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007 but failed to win a political vote to become members of the Schengen area four years later due to corruption concerns. Those reservations have remained among some member states over the last decade, blocking the Balkan neighbors’ efforts to become part of Schengen.
Now, they are striving to show they can accommodate an influx of refugees from the war while still protecting the EU’s external borders. The two countries want to be admitted to the zone as early as Jan. 1, which is when Croatia expects to join.
A team of experts will reassess the two countries’ technical readiness to join the area starting this week.
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