Defense minister: No “military Schengen” on Romanian Govt.’s agenda

Romania’s Government has never discussed about the possibility of becoming part of a so-called “military Schengen” area separate from the agenda of joining the Schengen area as a full member, said defense minister Mihai Fifor on Sunday. He came out with this clarification after the state-owned press agency Agerpres wrongly quoted him as saying that Romania had in fact discussed becoming part of a military Schengen even before joining the actual Schengen area. The Defense Ministry quickly reacted to this mistake and Agerpres corrected the initial statement and said that it was based on an official translation in Romanian of the speech that Fifor held in English at the Senate, during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly on Saturday. The Defense Ministry asked the Parliament’s culture committees to investigate how the press agency made such a mistake. An internal investigation was also ordered at the Senate to see why this translation mistake occurred in the Defense Ministry’s speech. The Schengen entry is a delicate subject in Romania. While the country has made it one of the most important goals in foreign policy to join the Schengen area as full member, some Western EU members have been opposing this. The idea of a “Military Schengen” is related to NATO troops moving across EU borders more easily. Romania receives access to the Schengen visa information system EC asks European leaders to accept Romania, Bulgaria in Schengen editor@romania-insider.com