The MEP who asked the Netherlands not to block Romania’s entry into Schengen: They are prejudiced against the East

The governments of the European Union will vote, in December, on the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Area. Although the two countries met the criteria for Schengen a long time ago, the Netherlands opposes joining.

Dutch MEP Sophia In ‘t Veld, member of the ruling party in the Netherlands, declared, on Wednesday, in the European Parliament, that she is ashamed of the fact that the Government in The Hague opposes the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Area.

She asked Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to support the expansion of the European free movement area with the two candidate countries. She says she is ashamed that her country can block the extension of Schengen, writes spotmedia.ro.

Sophia In ‘t Veld, Dutch MEP: “You have to understand that we have many extremist parties in the Netherlands, some are Eurosceptic, if not anti-EU, so the atmosphere is not really favorable. That is why I made that call from the European Parliament to Mr. Rutte: leadership is not about telling people what they want to hear, but about making hard and unpopular decisions in difficult situations and being consistent about them, to defend them and convince people that this is right”.

Asked if there are signs that the Netherlands will oppose Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area, Sophia In ‘t Veld said: “Let me put it this way: I think the atmosphere in the Dutch Parliament is rather negative, so the question is whether Prime Minister Mark Rutte will go against the national Parliament. Of course, in the European context there are always decisions that must be made and he can explain to the Dutch Parliament that it is not a popular decision, but that it had to be made. It’s just that he didn’t do that anymore, in connection with the Schengen expansion”.

“It has to do with prejudice against the East”

Sophia In ‘t Veld, Dutch MEP: “To a large extent, not exclusively, but to a large extent, it has to do with prejudice against Eastern and Central Europeans, which are of course easily fueled, and we see in many states in the European Union that prejudice and intolerance are on the rise, so it’s a political calculation.

Bulgaria and Romania met the Schengen criteria a long time ago. In any other situation, if there are criteria that must be met, once that happens, then you have to close the deal. In this case, the Netherlands is one of the few states that does not seem to want to do this. Will he change his mind? I don’t know, but I can imagine that the pressure increased, after the debate in the European Parliament and after the Czech EU presidency put this issue on the agenda again, and because we are in a crisis situation, there is an ongoing war, and the unity of the European Union is very important. Maybe all this will make Mr. Rutte change his mind, I really hope so, I think he should, that it’s the right thing to do.

“We have many extremist parties in the Netherlands”

The MEP from the Netherlands also explained that in her country there are many extremist parties, some of them even “Eurosceptic“.

“You have to understand that we have many extremist parties in the Netherlands, some are Eurosceptic, if not anti-EU, so the atmosphere is not really favorable. That is why I made that call from the European Parliament to Mr. Rutte: leadership is not about telling people what they want to hear, but about making hard and unpopular decisions in difficult situations and being consistent about them, to defend them and convince people that this is right”said the MEP, according to spotmedia.ro.

The link between Schengen and respect for the rule of law

Sophia In ‘t Veld also explained that Romania met the technical criteria for entering Schengen and that the elimination of corruption is not among them.

“Only if this connection was explicitly made in the rules, otherwise, this connection should not be made. If you expect someone to meet certain criteria, then it needs to be very clear what they are. If one of the criteria was the complete elimination of corruption, then yes, Bulgaria and Romania would not enter Schengen. Are there concerns about the rule of law, corruption and fundamental rights in Bulgaria and Romania? God yes! But this is something different. There are technical criteria, which have been met, for Schengen accession”, she said.