EC President Jose Manuel Barroso declared on Monday, at Cotroceni that Romania is sustained by the EC to join Schengen and Romania needs to ensure that all tehnical conditions are complied with.
I can say there is no connection between the judicial reforms and joining Schengen, Barroso said. He underlined that there are states that think the contrary but it is actually about trust. He said Romania will have to convince member states it deserves to be there.
Barroso took the opportunity to congratulate President Basescu for his prompt reactions to the critiques of the Commission in the last report. Barroso announced that EC experts will arrive in Romania next week to evaluate the country's progress.
Basescu said a decision will be taken in the Council, which is a political organism and thus Romania needs to do whatever it can to accelerate the reform in justice. Basescu said last week that Romania should join Schengen in March 2011 and the decision depends solely on whether it complies with technical criteria.
