The opinions on the Common Foreign, Security and Defence Policy, drafted by Victor Negrescu MEP as rapporteur, have been adopted by a large majority in the Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) of the European Parliament (EP) and contain elements of importance for Romania.
According to the MEP, the texts reinforce the need to protect the Eastern flank, to step up cooperation with NATO and strategic partners such as the United States, and to ensure that new cyber and technological challenges in the security area are fought with adequate resources.
However, Victor Negrescu criticizes the actions of the European political right in supporting Romania and acknowledging its role in ensuring European security.
“The European political right says one thing and does another. Today, in the Constitutional Affairs Committee, the European People’s Party group called for the removal of the reference regarding Romania’s efforts to safeguard the EU’s external borders and to respect the Schengen acquis in light of the war in Ukraine. The amendment I proposed in the AFCO committee opinion on the common security and defence policy was intended to acknowledge the role played by Romania, in a situation where our country, although not a member of the Schengen area, has the longest border with Ukraine and has proved that it fully applies and respects the Schengen acquis, despite the difficult situation we have been facing. Moreover, during the discussions held on this subject in the relevant committee, I stressed that, at present, the EU’s security and defence capacity on the Eastern flank is hampered by the fact that Romania is not part of the Schengen area, and efforts to maintain trade routes and those for the reconstruction of Ukraine are affected by this”, explains the social-democrat MEP.
In this context, Victor Negrescu presents the text of the amendment with the alteration made with regard to Romania:
“- whereas special attention should be given to the protection of the EU’s external borders; highlights the essential role of the Schengen area in ensuring border protection and control; underlines the fact that, in the context of the war in Ukraine, frontline countries, (part of the text removed at the initiative of the EPP: <<like Romania>>), have demonstrated full application of the Schengen acquis, contributing to the protection of the EU’s external borders.”
In this context, the MEP mentions the existence of numerous texts of the European Parliament in which names of countries are mentioned, and the efforts made by Romania on the protection of the EU external border have been underlined by many European decision-makers.
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