MEP Dacian Cholos says he expected politicians from the Netherlands to seek support from other countries for opposition to Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, News.ro reports.

Ciolos believes that in a context where politicians from parties linked to the socialist and populist groups in the European Parliament are beginning to express views similar to those of the Netherlands, he expects the participation of politicians from Bucharest to support Romania’s view of views within of these families are political.

“As far as I understand, the Czech presidency of the Council of the European Union intends to leave this topic on the agenda so that (December 8 – no) there will be a moment of truth. (…) It seems unfair to me for Romanian citizens who have the same rights as other European citizens, it seems unfair to me that they are losing this opportunity to move really freely in the European space because of the politicians and how the politicians and – have they fulfilled their work or not, and their discussions, some of which are related to the internal politics of certain member states, but here are speculations, because the decision in the Council is made at ministerial level and it is a political decision,” Dacian Ciolos told Euronews Romania on Monday .

The former prime minister showed that there are socialist parties in the European Parliament, as well as the European People’s Party, which oppose Romania’s accession to the Schengen zone.

“I would expect the Netherlands to look elsewhere for support so that they are not alone in this discussion. (…) I expect the PSD and PNL political leaders to take the same steps towards their political families and convince them in this way that Romanian citizens will benefit from free movement at the end of this year, because they really deserve it “, the MEP added.

He confirmed that “if it weren’t for the attack on the justice laws in 2017, the MCV would most likely have closed then”, Ciolos believes that at that time Romania would have had a chance to gain access to the Schengen area.

The Netherlands opposes Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, in the context of which a mixed group of experts, consisting of representatives of the EU and some member states, including the Netherlands, visited Romania this week.