Accession to Schengen, closer after the European agreement on the new pact for migration and asylum

The agreement reached yesterday morning by the representatives of the European Parliament and the representatives of the member states in the EU Council on the pact on asylum and migration represents the removal of any obstacle for the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area, says the European deputy Dragoş Pîslaru, the co-president of REPER. He claims that at this moment Austria no longer has any argument by which to oppose the total accession of the two states to the Schengen Area and asks the Ciolacu government and President Klaus Iohannis to use this agreement so that Romanians are no longer humiliated in queues endless and Romania's economy will no longer suffer.

Dragoş Pîslaru stated: "The message from Brussels is clear: no European should be discriminated against on the basis of electoral rhetoric regarding migration and no member state can blackmail the EU on this issue. Bucharest must now act so that this message is heard more and more loudly in Vienna".

Under the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will enter into force next year after yesterday's agreement was formally approved by the plenary of the European Parliament and the EU Council, countries not on the Union's external border will have a choice between accepting refugees or pay into an EU fund. Also, the envisaged control system will try to distinguish between those who need international protection and those who do not. People whose asylum claims have little chance of success, such as those from India, Tunisia or Turkey, can be prevented from entering the EU and detained at the border, as can people deemed to pose a security threat.

The pact also stipulates that migrants with the least chance of receiving asylum will be detained in centers so that they can be sent more quickly to their country of origin or transit. This procedure will apply to citizens of countries for which the average rate of recognition of refugee status in the EU is less than 20%.

The EU is currently experiencing an increase in irregular arrivals and asylum applications, which could exceed one million by 31 December 2023, according to data from the EU Asylum Agency (EUAA).