Interview with Miroslav Lajčák, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia: “We want to see Romania and Bulgaria in Schengen as soon as possible”

Slovakia supported the process of accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area during its presidency of the EU Council (July – December 2016) and reaffirmed its support in this wise, through the voice of its foreign minister, Miroslav Lajčák, in a declaration issued at the start of April 2017, cited by Novinite.

The chief diplomat of Slovakia offered an interview on the necessity and opportunity of Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area to Vladimir Adrian Costea, for Europunkt.

Citeşte versiunea în limba română aici.

Vladimir Adrian Costea: To what extent meet Romania and Bulgaria the conditions for membership in the Schengen area?

Miroslav Lajčák: Slovakia was the first country to ratify the accession of Romania to the European Union and has been one of the biggest supporters for early entry of Romania into the Schengen area. Our position is firm and we have communicated it clearly and consistently throughout that Romania and Bulgaria had already met the technical conditions to enter the Schengen area. However, the decision has not been made yet.

What are the main reasons for the denial of accession to Schengen of Romania and Bulgaria? What are the obstacles that hindered the achievement of accession?

Some member states are still hesitant due to their internal political reasons. As I said, from our perspective, we want to see Romania and Bulgaria in Schengen as soon as possible.

What is the impact if these countries will remain outside the Schengen area, in times of enlargement?

Without these countries Schengen isn’t as compact and as complete as it could be. Greece is right now like a “Schengen island” amid countries that are not members of the Schengen area. That creates a lot of problems e.g. for the security and protection of the EU borders, also in using information systems linked with Schengen (e.g. SIS – Schengen information system, VIS – visa information system), making the European fight against terrorism and organized crime more difficult.

What progress was made while Slovakia held the EU Council Presidency in the process of accelerating Romania’s accession to Schengen area and Bulgaria?

The ambition of our Presidency was to move forward the accession of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen. And we did our best to move the agenda forward. Unfortunately, we did not succeed completely.

To what extent might the Schengen area issue divided once again the Member States of the European Union?

One of the tasks of the EU and its member states is the protection of citizens, the enforcement of internal security, fighting terrorism and organized crime. The admission into Schengen of Romania and Bulgaria – who already meet all the technical conditions – just makes the fulfilling of these tasks more easy.