EC Head lobbies for Romania’s, Bulgaria’s Schengen admission “without any further delay”.

Romania and Bulgaria are de facto members of Schengen, proving that they meet all the conditions for joining the European area of ​​free movement, said, on Wednesday, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech on the state of the Union: “Let’s bring them , finally, in Schengen, without any further delay”.

Ursula von der Leyen conveyed special thanks to Bulgaria and Romania “for leading the way by presenting best practices in both asylum and return.”

“They proved this: Bulgaria and Romania are part of our Schengen area. So let’s finally bring them into Schengen without any further delay. Our work on migration is based on the belief that unity is within our reach. An agreement on the pact has never been so close. Parliament and the Council have a historic opportunity to push it across the line. Let’s show that Europe can manage migration effectively and compassionately. Let’s do this! We know that migration requires constant work. And nowhere is it more vital than in the fight against human traffickers. They attract desperate people with their lies. And it places them on deadly desert routes or on unseaworthy craft. The way these traffickers operate is constantly evolving. But our legislation is over twenty years old and in urgent need of updating. So we need new legislation and a new governance structure. We need better law enforcement, prosecution and a bigger role for our agencies – Europol, Eurojust and Frontex. And we must work with our partners to combat this global scourge of human trafficking. This is why the Commission will organize an international conference on combating human trafficking. It’s time to put an end to this criminal and unscrupulous business!”, the EC Head said.

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola also referred in a press conference in Strasbourg, to blocking the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen. The President of the European Parliament believes that the worst thing that can happen is that, in the future, we see such decisions taken in the case of countries that “fight in wars or that wait for years, only to be told “no “”.