Nearly two-thirds of the respondents to a recent INSCOP survey believe that Romania met all the criteria also to join the Schengen area with its land borders, but some states block the country’s full accession for economic reasons, News.ro reported. Romania took the first steps into the Schengen area at the end of March, opening up borders for air and sea travel.

Roughly 30% of Romanians believe the country has not yet been admitted with land borders to the Schengen area because it has not met all the necessary criteria. On the opposite end, 60.1% think all criteria have been met, but European states block Romania’s complete access to the EU’s passport-free zone for economic reasons.

Almost 10% of those questioned decided not to answer.

“The majority of Romanians (60%) are of the opinion that the partial accession to the Schengen area (without land borders) is caused by some European states’ blockade on Romania. Only 30% think Romania has not fulfilled all the criteria for accession with land borders. The population's frustration on this subject remains high and fully justified, given that neither the blocking of access to the Schengen area for years, nor the partial accession have been credibly explained by the few hostile states of Romania,” said Remus Ştefureac, director of INSCOP Research.

“This feeling is also amplified by the fact that at this moment, only one country, Austria, blocks the accession with the land borders, the majority of the member states, as well as all the European institutions, repeatedly expressing their support for the full accession of our country to the Schengen area,” he added.

INSCOP Research carried out the opinion poll for News.ro between April 12 and 20 through the CATI method (telephone interviews). A total of 1,100 people aged 18 and over have participated in the survey.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

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