In comments to Antena 3, FM Baconschi said he has no reasons to resign given that the Foreign Ministry did its homework for Schengen accession. He added that the prime minister can ask him to quit, but his resignation would not be called for. On Wednesday evening on TVR 1, Baconschi had said that he was willing to resign if PM Emil Boc asked him to, if he is deemed guilty for a possible failure to join Schengen.
The foreign minister came under fire lately after he said in an interview to central daily ‘Adevarul’ that Romania might unilaterally denounce the MCV on justice issues, given that the mechanism has begun to be used for other purposes and is becoming a handicap. The joint French-German letter demanding Romania and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession delayed mentioned setbacks in justice reform and the fight against corruption and organised crime.
In the interview, the minister also suggested that Romania might condition Croatia’s EU accession on the enforcement of a similar MCV. His comments drew a harsh rebuke from several Bucharest officials, including President Basescu, who said Romania cannot unilaterally denounce the MCV nor can it block Croatia’s EU accession.
Baconschi explained yesterday that his comments had been “distorted” and reiterated that Romania supports EU enlargement into the West Balkans, based on each state’s merits. He reiterated however that the MCV must be used only for the purposes it was implemented for. Baconschi’s comment was backed by Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu, who said that using MCV as cause for delaying Romania’s Schengen accession would ignore the legal grounds and purpose of the European Commission’s decision by which the mechanism was implemented.
