| Romania hopes to join EU Schengen bloc by 2012 |
| 7 September 2006 | 10:43
| Source:
DPA |
BERLIN --
Romania, which expects to join the EU next year, hopes to be admitted to the Schengen group by 2012.
"We will have to work very hard to meet this deadline," said Interior and Administration Minister Vasile Blaga at a press conference after talks with German officials in Berlin.
Romania, along with Bulgaria, is expected to win a green light from the European Commission later this month to join the 25-member EU on January 1, 2007.
The Schengen Agreement removes border posts and checks between its member states.
So far, 26 countries - including all EU members except Ireland and Britain, but including non-EU members Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland - have signed the agreement and 15 have implemented it.
Countries being admitted to the Schengen bloc have to demonstrate that their non-Schengen frontiers are secure and Blaga said his country was making huge investments to bring its border controls up to standard.
About 1.2 billion euros (1.5 billion dollars) were due to be spent on high-tech border surveillance systems in the coming years, he said. Over 500 million euros is being paid by Bucharest with the rest of the money coming from the EU.
"We will have the second longest EU external border after Finland's border with Russia," said Blaga, adding that policing the more than 2,000 kilometre-long EU external frontier to Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova and the Black Sea presented challenges which few other EU states had to master.
Romania currently has 18,400 border guards, he said.
Blaga said Romania would need at least five years to get into shape for admission to Schengen.
"We are talking about the year 2012," he said.
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