Romania’s business leadership community has sent an open letter to Roelof Sander van Ees, ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in which he says that Romania’s business community believes it is time to open its doors to Europe.

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Press report: The Netherlands’ response to Romania’s accession to Schengen

What the document says:

“On behalf of 350 Romanian entrepreneurs from the Romanian business leadership community, we are asking you to convey our message to the government of your country. The information we give you is not new to your lordship, but it deserves to be told again.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands clearly leads the ranking of foreign investments based on the country of origin in Romania, with 22 billion euros in 2021, more than double that of Germany, which ranks 2. Romania has welcomed with open arms more than 5,800 Dutch companies that have decided to invest here, from beer industry, banking, agribusiness, technology, trade, shipping and many other industries, the names of major companies that have decided to invest in Romania over the years. Dutch businessmen consider Romania to be one of the best places in the region for investment, as evidenced by the fact that it is increasing year by year.

On the other hand, we Romanian entrepreneurs are also looking at the Netherlands with great interest. We bring not only young Romanians to study, but also Romanian enterprises and investment funds have chosen your country as their residence.

Almost 90% of Romanian exports go to European Union markets, worth around 60 billion euros, of which 85% are cars and industrial products transported through customs points that cannot cope. Kilometer-long queues of freight cars stand every day at customs from Romania to Europe. Their losses and the losses of the companies whose goods they transport, caused by the sometimes daily stay at the border points, amount to hundreds of millions of euros.

Romania is not a perfect country, but…

– it is a country with the second fastest economic growth in the European Union;

– it is a country with the third highest level of trust in the European Union;

– it is one of the border countries of the European Union, which in this period of the war in Ukraine has undoubtedly shown its affiliation to European values;

is a country where organizations such as Romanian business leaders believe in Romania and work tirelessly to promote its development.

Last but not least, Romania is a country that meets the technical conditions for joining the Schengen area.

We, Romanian entrepreneurs, believe that Romania is ready and deserves to join Schengen. And next to us, multinational companies and Dutch companies, who said that they support it without hesitation, believe the same.

Your Excellency, the business environment of Romania believes that it is time to open the gates to Europe!”