Romania must meet its commitments in order to be admitted to the Schengen area, and it will not set conditions for Croatia's admission to the European Union, Romanian President Traian Basescu said on Wednesday, as quoted by French news agency AFP.
We must focus on our own efforts and not on what others should do, Basescu said while chairing a government session on Bucharest's efforts to join the Schengen area of free movement.
Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi told Romanian newspaper Adevarul in an interview published on Monday that he would request introduction of a Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for Croatia if Germany and France continued to block Romania's admission to the Schengen area.
The essence of Romania's policy is not in setting conditions for Croatia's accession to the EU, but quite the contrary, unreserved support for the admission of Western Balkan countries, Basescu said, dismissing Baconschi's statement.
The solution is in us, but also in political relations, European solidarity and compliance with the accession treaties for the 27 EU members, he said.
Basescu said he was taking political responsibility for a possible delay in Romania's admission to the Schengen area, which Bucharest hopes will happen in March, but stressed that the responsibility for issues relating to the progress of judicial reform, which were cited by Paris and Berlin, lay with the Romanian parliament and government.
