Romanian MEP Eugene Tomac appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) the decision of the Council of the CIS, which denied Romania accession to Schengen. More specifically, Tomak is asking the CJEU to declare the decision of the JAI Board following the vote on December 8, 2022 illegal.

The Romanian MEP believes that the European Council’s decision to deny Romania accession to Schengen was an “abuse of power”. He justifies his approach by arguing that the preconditions for Romania’s acceptance are removed in a context in which the leaders of Austria and the Netherlands recently announced at a press conference that the Schengen area will not expand until it is reformed.

Hotnews.ro talked to the Romanian MEP to find out more about his approach, the arguments behind this approach and what the ECJ decision might change for Romania.

HotNews.ro: What does Romania gain from the demand to cancel the decision of the JAI Council of December 8?

Evgeny Tomak: Romania has been meeting the criteria since June 2010. In view of the fact that we have recently seen the extremely sharp, even radical position of the two leaders of the Austrian and Dutch governments, announced at a joint press conference, that the Schengen area will not expand until it is reformed, I consider this approach to be an abuse of power on the part of the EU Council.

Therefore, the cancellation of this act would oblige the Council to adopt a new technical decision, not a political one, which would change the old decision. The council is obliged to meet again and make another decision, a technical one. In our opinion, there can be only one solution, because it is not a political decision, but a solution that corresponds to the evaluations provided by the institutions in the Schengen legislation, and it is very clearly stated there – the Commission makes an evaluation.

Why did you do that?

We demanded the cancellation of the act because we consider it an illegal act until it was decided in the conditions in which it was taken at the JAI Council meeting that Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia will be admitted to the Schengen area because they meet the criteria. At this meeting, a unanimous decision was made to accept only Croatia and reject Romania and Bulgaria without any explanation, and here we find an abuse of power by the Council of the European Union and a lack of loyalty between the institutions. The most appropriate course of action is to appeal to the Court of Justice to quash the action, as the decision proposed for the JAI Board agenda has not been adopted and no reason has been given.

Is there a threat of suspending or blocking the process of Romania joining the Schengen area?

no If the privileged claimant, namely the Romanian State or the Bulgarian State or the European Commission, can always go to the Court of Justice of the EU when it is a legal or illegal act, an appeal can be made to the CJEU. Such an approach does not block political negotiations and does not suspend anything, despite the fact that the approach is carried out by such a disadvantaged applicant as myself, because I have to prove what is my interest in challenging such a decision; whether the preferred bidder is the Romanian state, the Romanian government or the EU. Therefore, such an act can be challenged, but it does not stop negotiations. The board can meet at any time and make this decision.

Who did you consult when you started the approach?

I consulted with old judges of the CJEU, with former advocates general of the CJEU, with lawyers who are familiar with the jurisprudence of the European Court from France, Belgium, Romania, and the lawyer who represents me is from Luxembourg.

Have you consulted with representatives of the Romanian state institutions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the president, the government?

The Romanian government did not want to accept this approach, so the Romanian state has no relation. This is an initiative that I came up with as a Member of the European Parliament from Romania. I am the representative of the citizens of Romania in the legislative body of the community, I have this right when I believe that EU legislation, treaties are violated and obviously the citizens of the country from which they come are discriminated by such measures, I have this tool at my disposal, because which I can report on what I have done.

In both December and January, I asked the Romanian state, respectively the head of government, Nicolae Cuke, to initiate this approach, referring to the arguments I presented to you. The Romanian government did not even respond to this request that I sent.

On December 8, 2022, the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union rejected the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen and granted only Croatia’s request.