Peter de Ruiter: Romania’s entry into the Schengen area, in the interest of Dutch business community

The Netherlands-Romanian Chamber of Commerce (NRCC) has expressed its support of Romania's joining the Schengen area, but has asked the Romanian state to enforce non-discriminatory controls and not target any specific industry or business community. This came soon after the decision on Romania's Schengen entry has been further delayed. “Romania’s accession in the Schengen zone will be beneficial both for the free movement of individuals, as well as for the flow of goods. It will therefore facilitate intra-community trade and could stimulate Romania’s attractiveness for foreign direct investments in sectors such as production, assembly, transport and logistics. The Netherlands is already the largest foreign investor in Romania and we believe that Romania’s entry into the Schengen area will also be in the interest of the Dutch business community, leading to the further development of trade between our two countries”, said Peter de Ruiter, President of the NRCC and partner with PwC Romania. “Based on our discussions with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as with other public authorities, we assess that Romania meets the technical requirements in order to join the Schengen zone. The country has made considerable investments in securing its eastern and south-western borders, in equipping its police and border control forces. Political considerations should not come in the way of granting Romania’s membership in the Schengen zone, which should be viewed entirely as a technical issue” added de Ruiter. The NRCC has worked in the past year together with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to enhance the profile and perception of Romania inside The Netherlands by organizing a series of meetings with key Dutch stakeholders and presenting Romania’s case, according to the Chamber. “Our organization has always pointed out to the Dutch officials, as well as to major Dutch investors, the enormous economic opportunities that Romania presents in various sectors such as transports and logistics, agriculture, energy, water-management and utilities. We believe that it will be in the interest of everybody for the authorities in The Hague to heed our call”, said Richard Reese, Executive Director of the NRCC. “On the other hand, although we agree with the fact that the Romanian authorities are entitled to step up their activities against tax evasion and cross-border criminality, we believe that all controls made by the Romanian authorities should be non-discriminatory and should not target any specific industry or business community”, concluded de Ruiter. Romania has blocked several trucks with flowers, bulbs and seeds from Holland at its border with Hungary, saying it suspects a dangerous bacteria on flowers and bulbs, but has concluded afterwards that no bacteria was found. Dutch members of the European Parliament have deemed the move a blackmail, as it came soon after the Netherlands has said it would block Romania’s accession to the Schengen area. The decision on Romania's accession to the Schengen area has been further delayed after discussions this week in Brussels.