Romania’s accession to the Schengen area could hit a new obstacle, in addition to the already well-known opposition of the Netherlands – the Swedish parliament does not agree with it either, and the minority government that has been leading Sweden since the last election could be pressured to changes its current position and no longer supports accession, according to the Swedish publication Dagens Nyheter.
On Thursday, at the meeting of the parliament’s justice committee in Stockholm, the Swedish government submitted its proposal according to which Sweden will support the accession of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia to the Schengen area.
The previous government, led by the Social Democrats, opposed the expansion of the Schengen area, and the party, now in opposition, continues to oppose it. Also, the extremist group Sweden Democrats, which is not in government but supports the government in parliament, said it opposes it. Without their support, Ulf Kristersson’s minority government could collapse.
“We believe that when it comes to Schengen expansion, we have to start with our need to control entry and exit and make sure we have all the tools we need to fight crime,” said Ardalan Shekarabi, from Swedish Social Democrats.
He expressed surprise that the government submitted this proposal without first discussing it with the Social Democrats and the Sweden Democrats. He also said that “there were problems with migrants from Bulgaria and Romania who were exploited in Sweden”.
The Swedish publication writes that, most likely, the Swedish government will suffer its first defeat in parliament. “As for Bulgaria and Romania, Sweden faces big problems with the citizens of these countries who abuse the current mobility directive and question the public order in Sweden,” writes one of the extremist parliamentarians, SD member Adam Marttinen.
The SD also claims that there are “criticisms about widespread corruption and the lack of action against organized crime in these countries”. SD also said that “the external border of Schengen would move to the border of Ukraine”, in case Romania accedes.