Romanian FM calls for fair Schengen analysis

Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi on Monday called for a fair assessment of Romania’s bid to join the Schengen visa-free zone, urging France and Germany not to change the rules of the game.

“It would be unfair to accept that two states, no matter which, could set a precedent by changing the rules of the game,” Baconschi said in local media.

The French and German Interior Ministers wrote in a letter to the European Commission that a decision on the applications would be made once the two ex-communist bloc nations make “irreversible progress” in the fight against corruption and organised crime.

But Romania deems as “discriminatory” any attempt to link the Schengen issue to the reform of the judiciary, under close surveillance from the executive European Commission as part of a so-called co-operation and verification mechanism.