President Basescu declared on Friday, at Brussels, in the context of the European Council of Winter about Romania joining Schengen that our country does not want to be a collateral victim for everything that does not work in the Union.

Basescu underlined that Romania respected the rules of the club since it joined the union, fourt years ago. He said that he would not like to believe that Romania took a bad approach and that benefits in the Union are obtained through confrontational approaches. Basescu said that Romania does not wish to become a collateral victim for everything that does not work in the Union.

He expressed his conviction that joining Schengen in March 2011 will be in the benefit of the country and to the benefit of the Union. Joining Schengen is the expression of the justified demand to be treated as a member state with full rights, Basescu said.

He said he understands that there are a series of political sensibilities on the matter but he reiterated that all Union members should work together to seek reasonable and correct solutions.

Basescu said that Romania is sick of monitorizations,and that the country agrees to continue collaborting with member states. Regarding possible risks related to illegal immigration once Romanian joins Schengen, Basescu said that Romania is willing to do an analysis on the matter with any EU member state.

Romania has not created so far and will not create any illegal immigrtion risk in the EU, the chief of state said.