site.bta Adevarul: Negotiations on Romania's Full Accession to Schengen to Take Place in Second Half of 2024

The negotiations on Romania's full accession to the Schengen area will take place in the second half of 2024, the Romanian daily Adevarul reported, citing unnamed political sources.

The newspaper added that the timetable for Romania's full accession to the Schengen area, including land borders, is still uncertain, but there will be discussions on achieving this goal in the second half of 2024, following the European elections on June 6-9.

Meanwhile, MEP Dacian Ciolos criticized Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu for his "triumphalist" statement regarding Romania's accession to the Schengen area by air and sea.

"Austria's Interior Minister shattered Marcel Ciolacu’s triumphalist statement in less than 24 hours, showing that there is no agreement nor timetable to abolish land customs controls. The President of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Marcel Ciolacu, the current Prime Minister of Romania and future SPD presidential candidate, needs to understand a simple truth: words uttered at random can have serious consequences. Not only for him, but for the whole country. Mr. Ciolacu, either take your responsibilities seriously or resign. One of the fundamental rules of negotiations at this level is that 'nothing is agreed until everything is agreed'. When you are not directly involved in the negotiations and there is no final agreement, it is better to remain silent so as not to blow up the work of those who are trying to resolve the difficult situation Romania got into because of Austrian cynicism," Ciolos wrote on Facebook.

On December 27, Ciolacu posted a comment on his official social media, saying that Romanians will benefit from Schengen advantages on air and sea routes from March 2024. The post came minutes after the Romanian Interior Ministry announced that a political agreement had been reached on December 23 with the interior ministries of Vienna and Sofia on extending the Schengen area to the air and sea borders of Romania and Bulgaria from March 2024.