Brussels, 10/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, Romania said it disagreed with the Dutch suggestions that Romania did not meet the rule of law criteria needed to join the Schengen area, explained the Romanian foreign ministry (according to AFP reports). The Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Baconschi, is reported to have summoned the Dutch ambassador to Romania, Antonia van Gool, to explain matters and during the interview he expressed disagreement with recent comments by Dutch representatives about respect of the rule of law in Romania. The minister said the country respected all the necessary criteria, as had been confirmed by international institutions in 2007 when examining Romania's respect of the conditions for joining the European Union.
The question of whether Romania is doing enough to fulfil its duty to stamp down on corruption and reform the judiciary was raised on Thursday by the Dutch immigration minister, Gerd Leers, at the meeting of EU27 interior ministers in Luxembourg. The Netherlands says it does not want Romania or Bulgaria to join the Schengen area until July 2012, after the European Commission has published the new annual report on “political progress” by the two nations. Other countries, like France and Germany, have suggested waiting until September 2011 to decide on whether to enter the first stage of border opening (at airports). (S.P./transl.fl)