Green light from France on Romania's Schengen entry via international airports, more work on terrestrial borders needed

Good news could come Romania's way about its Schengen entry in a couple of months, said the French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who was on an official visit to Romania last week (in picture, driving an electric car, with Romanian PM Victor Ponta as co-pilot). After meetings with president, PM and other officials in Romania, Ayrault said France supports Romania's entry into Schengen with its international airports in a first stage. The French PM also said Romania is ready for this first step in joining the Schengen area because of its 'extraordinary efforts' and that 'Romanians need to get a sign from Europe'. Romania's accession into Schengen, the border free zone, has been delayed for several years, as different European states opposed it at various stages in the past, France included. The decision to accept another member into Schengen has to be unanimous among the border free zone's members. According to the French PM, Romania still has to work on securing its terrestrial frontiers. France has however proposed as immediate measure opening the borders via international airports, which is the first step in the process. The Romanian president recently said he expects Romania's entry into Schengen to happen in April 2014. The last delay for Romania came in March this year, when Germany, The Netherlands and Finland still opposed its entry, saying Romania still needs to show progress on the Justice report within the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification (MCV). The next MCV report for Romania is due in December 2013. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Victor Ponta on Facebook, photo credits: Yves Malenfer/Matignon)