Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi stated in Brussels that he “harbours no illusions” that The Netherlands may change its position on Romania’s Schengen accession before December 9, RFI reports.
Teodor Baconschi has had a meeting on Monday with his Finnish counterpart, Erkki Tuomioja, trying to persuade Finland to lend Romania its much-needed support. “I’ve stated our openness to bilateral cooperation in the field of internal affairs, inviting Finnish experts to join Romanian officers deployed in the checkpoints,” Baconschi stated, quoted by the aforementioned source. The Netherlands and Finland blocked Romania’s and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession, arguing neither country had made enough efforts to eradicate corruption. Yesterday, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate Cristian Diaconescu met the Finnish ambassador in Bucharest, Ulla Vaisto, stating that Finland was envisaging Romania’s Schengen accession in two stages – the opening of air borders in the first quarter of 2012, to be followed by the land borders in the first half-year – if the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification’s February report is deemed satisfactory.
