Blocking of Romania’s Schengen accession by EU owing to Romanian nationality granted to Moldovans is irrelevant, Teodor Baconschi

Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said EU member states’ arguments that Schengen accession should be postponed because the Romanian state provides nationality to Moldovans are irrelevant, Info-Prim Neo reports. In an interview for the British newspaper Financial Times, the Romanian minister said the regaining of Romanian nationality by some citizens of the Republic of Moldova is made possible in a precise legal framework and is done according to international standards and regulations. He also said that the rate of growth of EU citizens in Romania is one of the smallest in the whole Union and the number of Romanian citizenships granted is much smaller than in other member states. “We are talking about thousands [of Moldovans], no more than that. So this is largely less than what’s happening in other member states,” he said. “It’s not true that we had a border problem with the Republic of Moldova. We have been the first state to recognize the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Moldova. We signed the first border treaty in 1947 in Paris. On November 8 last year, we signed a treaty for the common management of the border – we have enough real problems to face without adding to the list imaginary issues.” Romania and Bulgaria are expected to join the Schengen Area in March, but France and Germany announced they would block a decision in this regard because of corruption, organized crime and problems of the judiciary.