Member of the European Parliament Vlad Gheorghe accuses that Romanians will still be checked at European airports, finding themselves in such a situation, although Romania entered Schengen with an air and sea border from March 31. He says he will send formal complaints to the European Commission and member state airports where Romanians still check their passports.

Vlad Gheorghe complained on Facebook about abuses by the authorities of some European countries, where Romanians’ passports will still be checked at airports.

The MEP says he was also screened on Monday, April 1, after landing in Paris, and would not have received any explanation: “The stuttering of the police officers I interviewed at the Paris airport confirms that there was no routine screening action. At my insistence, they tried to say that they would also check other destinations, not only Romanian, but in the whole airport in the Schengen terminal, I did not come across another point like this, and the relevant agents did not transfer to another gate from flights from another European country, changing the narrative – “we go, but then, we don’t know where, the superiors give it to us, we wait.” In addition, they waited, checking every European citizen who got off the plane from Bucharest, pure coincidence of course.”

He claims to have received “numerous messages” from Romanian citizens who would be similarly screened at Amsterdam and Munich airports when exiting planes bound for Romania.

The MEP also says he will send formal complaints to the European Commission and member state airports, where Romanians will still check their passports, and that he will report the situation to the PSD-PNL government led by Marcel Colacu.

Romania has been in Schengen since Sunday, March 31, but for now only with air and sea borders. After repeated postponements and 17 years after joining the European Union, Romanians can travel freely in Schengen countries. The first change is that Romanians traveling abroad to Schengen countries no longer have to go through border controls. However, authorities said spot checks will be carried out to identify those with false travel documents who are being monitored or banned from leaving the country. If no problems are detected during the control procedures, passengers will continue their journey without problems, and in case of violations, the relevant person will be taken to the second line of inspection, where the situation will be investigated.

However, land border controls are still in place as Austria continues to oppose Romania’s full Schengen accession. On March 5, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner insisted that he must first see how Romania and Bulgaria join Schengen with an air and sea border from March 31, and only then think about the next step, access through land borders: “Anything else is counterproductive.”