On Tuesday, June 23rd this year, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ion Marcel VELA, had a discussion, in videoconference system with Mrs. Ylva JOHANSSON, European Commissioner for Internal Affairs.
The main topic of discussion was the future Pact on Migration and Asylum, a programmatic document that the European Commission intends to launch in the coming period.
The Romanian Minister welcomed the intention of the European Commission to relaunch the discussions in the field of migration and asylum, an extremely important area for all Member States and for the Union as a whole. He also presented the aspects of interest for our country, emphasizing Romania’s major objective for joining the Schengen area, given that our country meets all the criteria for accession since 11 years ago. Furthermore, it was emphasized that border guards at the internal borders with Bulgaria and Hungary would be much more useful at the external borders of the European Union or in support of Frontex missions.
In this context, Mr. Ion Marcel Vela recalled the substantial participation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the protection of the external border of the European Union and in the joint operations to combat illegal migration and related criminal activities.
For her part, Ms Ylva JOHANSSON was very interested in the views of the Romanian authorities on certain elements of the future Pact on Migration, also requesting Romania’s support in the forthcoming negotiations at EU level on this document, and emphasizing that Romanians’ expectations regarding joining the Schengen area are legitimate.
Finally, the two dignitaries agreed to continue the discussions on the occasion of an official visit that the Commissioner will make to Bucharest.
