EC's Juncker: Romania belongs in Schengen area, no reason to exclude it

Romania clearly belongs in the Schengen area, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Wednesday told a joint press conference with Prime Minister Viorica Dancila in Brussels.

Jean-Claude Juncker underscored that next year, by taking over the presidency of the Council of the European Union, Romania has "great" responsibility.

The EC head mentioned that Viorica Dancila was member of the European Parliament and added that Europe has no secret for Romania's Mrs. Prime Minister.

Jean-Claude Juncker recalled in the press conference the changes in Romania's Executive, that she is the fifth prime minister that he welcomed there since the beginning of his mandate and he voiced the hope that this cycle will stop and Mrs Prime Minister will remain longer in office.

He specified that he talked to the head of the Executive in Bucharest about the perspective of Romania's presidency to the Council of the European Union in the first semestre of 2019 and mentioned in the context, the post-Brexit Summit in Sibiu.
We should be able to determine the most important lines of the financial perspectives, he stated, adding that the responsibility of the future Romanian presidency is very big, from that outlook.

He voiced his conviction that the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) in relation to Bulgaria and Romania should be lifted, and thus concluded before the end of this Commission's mandate, Jean-Claude Juncker added.

The European Commission talked about Romania possibly joining the Schengen area. Romania belongs in the Schengen area. There are clearly no more reasons to exclude Romania from this citizenship ambitions that pertain to the Schengen area, the high European official highlighted.