The European Parliament believes that Dutch Prime Minister Rutte should no longer make such a fuss about Romania’s accession to the Schengen Agreement. The Netherlands is the only country still opposing it. According to D66 MEP Sophie In Veld, Rutte’s rigid refusal is gradually putting European unity at risk.
Almost unanimously, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Tuesday in Strasbourg urging European leaders to admit Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen zone as soon as possible. Only a few dozen right-nationalist MEPs from some Eastern European countries voted against it. The EU leaders will meet later this week for a special summit in Prague.
The European Parliament made the call with an overwhelming majority of 547 votes in favor and 49 against. The five VVD MEPs abstained but have not publicly explained their abstention so far.
Last week, Prime Minister Rutte made a one-day visit to Bucharest; according to an official announcement, to visit Dutch NATO soldiers stationed in Romania. He also held a meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. Very little was disclosed by The Hague about that conversation.
Since the upheavals in Eastern Europe in the 1990s — following the execution of then-dictator Ceausescu and his wife — Romanian politics and government have been marked by numerous power shifts, cronyism, and manipulated elections.
In recent years, significant change has occurred under President Klaus Iohannis, elected in 2014. Some even say he has expelled the mafia from the government.
As early as 2011, most EU countries and the European Commission determined that Romania and Bulgaria met all criteria for Schengen accession. Not all EU countries are members of the Schengen Agreement (which allows travel without customs checks), and some non-EU countries are members. Several countries blocked admission for years, with the Netherlands as the last remaining obstacle.
It is officially unknown what position Prime Minister Rutte will take at the upcoming European summit. Perhaps last week in Bucharest he and President Iohannis devised some kind of compromise or Rutte-style middle ground.
D66 MEP In Veld said Rutte must show leadership: clear criteria exist, and Bulgaria and Romania have met them for over ten years. According to her, the Netherlands keeps raising new demands and asks whether the two countries want to jump through new hoops again.
“Purely to appease the VVD voter base; it has nothing to do with Bulgaria and Romania. It is entirely justified that there is now an uproar about this. European unity is being put at risk,” said the D66 politician.
“On the one hand, we expect Romania and Bulgaria to guard Europe’s borders and receive refugees in these uncertain times, while at the same time, we keep stringing the two countries along. This is not how a marriage works. A deal is a deal. The Dutch government must honor it.”