2. European Affairs - Accession to Schengen area

European Affairs - Accession to Schengen area

Schengen area represents an area of free movement where checks at the internal borders of the signatory states were abolished and a single external border, where the checks are carried out according to a strict set of rules, was created.

The accession of a country to the Schengen area has as effect the abolition of checks at the internal borders of the Schengen Member States applying the Schengen acquis fully, being created a single external border, where checks are carried out according to a strict set of rules in the visa, migration, asylum field, as well as measures regarding the police, juridical or customs cooperation.

The abolition of checks at the internal borders is applied only on the grounds of a European decision adopted by the Council to this effect and after checking the fulfillment of the conditions necessary for the application of all the Schengen acquis elements, according to the Schengen evaluation procedures applicable in this field.

Subsequent to this decision, crossing the Schengen internal border can be realized without restrictions, being compared to an inland journey. However, the right of the Member States to impose the necessity of holding a valid travel document is not affected.

Also, out of public order or national security reasons, the checks at the Schengen internal borders may be reintroduced for a limited period of time, with the previous notification of the European Commission and of other Schengen Member States.

Taking into account that the abolition of the border checks may lead to the increase of internal security threats for the countries involved, one of the compensatory measures for the protection of the citizens is the cross-border police cooperation among all the contracting states. This cooperation is mainly enabled by setting up inter-institutional cooperation mechanisms among police, customs authority and border police (within the Common Contact Points, Centres, and Bureaus) and by using S.I.S.

Romania, in its steps towards the accession to this area - next phase after European Union accession - is in the stage in which it has to prove its capacity to implement the Schengen acquis in a uniform, correct, consistent and efficient manner.

In order to implement the specific measures and actions to comply with the commitments for Schengen area accession, at national level, the National Strategy for accession to the Schengen area for the period 2008 - 2011, a document containing the action directions which the authorities and institutions with responsibilities in this field have to follow until March 2011 (proposed data for accession), as well as the strategic and specific objectives to be followed, financial resources, juridical implication, monitoring and evaluation procedures, identified risks and the consequences of the accession was adopted.

The main action directions identified in Romania's accession process to the Schengen area are the following:

  • Schengen acquis implementation:
    • objectives:
      • legal harmonization and implementation of the best practices and recommendations drawn up at European level in the Schengen field:
        • creating the legal framework for the abolition of checks at the future internal borders;
        • ensuring the legal framework in order to strengthen the checks at the external borders, the surveillance of the external border area and the fight against cross-border crime;
        • take further steps to conclude the agreements of small traffic with the neighbouring third countries;
        • ensuring the legal framework in order to harmonize completely the national policy with the European Union policy in the visa field through the implementation of the specific Schengen acquis provisions;
        • harmonizing the legal framework on the aliens regime in order to fulfil the criteria of the accession to the Schengen area;
        • developing the necessary legal framework and procedures for the aliens removal, including through the implementation of the readmission agreements provisions;
        • ensuring the legal framework in order to implement the Schengen provisions in the asylum field;
        • developing the necessary legal framework and procedures to implement the Schengen provisions in the police cooperation field;
        • developing the good practices in the field of juridical cooperation in criminal matters;
        • ensuring the necessary legal framework and procedures to implement the Schengen provisions in the field of firearms and ammunition;
        • ensuring the necessary legal framework and procedures to implement the Schengen provisions in the field of drugs and psychotropic substances and its precursors;
        • developing the legal framework to ensure the implementation of SIS in Romania;
        • harmonizing the legislation, the rules and the national practices with the Schengen acquis in the field of personal data protection;
        • developing the juridical instruments, including the operative-standard procedures in order to strengthen the bilateral cooperation with the European Union / Schengen Member States, in the specific matters of the internal affairs attachés and of the liaison officers on migration issues;
      • ensuring the necessary institutional framework for accession to the Schengen area:
        • redeployment of the personnel from the border crossing points located on the future internal border in the context of border checks abolition on this type of E.U. border;
        • developing the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Schengen context;
        • developing the institutional capacity of the structures with competence in the field of police cooperation and juridical cooperation, in Schengen context;
        • creating and developing the institutional capacity of the structures with duties in the management of Central Register for Investigation and Research in the field of drugs and related crimes;
        • creating a SIS National Center and employing the adequate personnel to ensure the exploitation, monitoring and maintenance of NSIS II;
        • institutional development of SIRENE Bureau in order to ensure an efficient exchange of data and information with other SIRENE national bureaus from Schengen Member States, as well as with the law enforcement authorities involved, and with other competent authorities in Romania, according to the Schengen acquis standards and to the best practices in the field;
        • institutional development of the National Authority for the Supervision of Personal Data Processing in order to fulfil according to the Schengen standards the control and surveillance activities in the field of personal data protection;
  • developing the infrastructure and necessary procedures to fulfil the criteria of accession to the Schengen area:
    • objectives:
      • assuring from a technical and administrative point of view all conditions necessary for the fulfillment of the Schengen acquis requirements:
        • preparation for implementing the necessary measures in order to abolish the checks at the future internal borders;
        • making operational the activities in harbours and airports according to the Schengen acquis requirements;
        • ensuring the technical-administrative conditions in order to put into circulation the visa stickers and the Schengen visa application forms;
        • introducing the biometric data in the travel documents and ensuring the technical-administrative conditions in order to put into circulation the documents attesting the residence according to the European Union standards;
        • enhancing the administrative capacity and modernizing the Consulates, as well as supplying the competent institutions in the field of migration with the necessary equipment for the fulfillment of their specific duties, including creating adequate databases according to the relevant Schengen acquis;
        • ensuring the technical-administrative conditions to implement the national component of the Visa Information System;
        • ensuring the technical-administrative conditions to participate to the mechanism of establishing the Member State responsible with examination of asylum requests, including by making compatible the information systems specific to DubliNet and EURODAC;
        • making operational the SIRENE Bureau and the structures with Schengen competences in the field of police cooperation;
        • modernizing and developing the data management infrastructure (communications and informatics);
        • ensuring the specific operative equipment at the level of structures with competences in the field of combating trafficking in drugs and psychotropic and their precursors;
        • making operational the data processing system regarding the register of weapons, the legal weapon holders, as well as the operations with weapons and ammunition;
        • ensuring the technical-administrative conditions to implement NSIS II and modernizing the other related-national information systems in the Schengen field in order to ensure its compatibility;
        • realizing the national database copy of CS SIS II and connecting NSIS to CS SIS II;
        • ensuring the technical-administrative conditions for personal data processing within the procedures and activities related to Schengen according to the Community regulations on person protection regarding the personal data processing;
  • professional training:
    • objectives:
      • professional training of personnel from the institutions / structures involved in the process of Romania's accession to the Schengen area:
      • conversance with the content of the strategic documents on Schengen cooperation;
      • ensuring the knowledge and the acquisition of the necessary skills for developing the cooperation capacities of the personnel in the Schengen field;
      • providing the information regarding the Schengen acquis;
      • conversance with the Schengen evaluation process;
      • training of the personnel for the application of the specific working procedures;
      • ensuring the knowledge of foreign languages necessary to fulfil the duties in the Schengen field;
      • ensuring the knowledge and the acquisition of the skills for operating the technique in order to fulfil the duties and the missions in the Schengen field.

The Schengen evaluation process consists in the verification of fulfillment of all the necessary measures to fully implement the Schengen acquis. The evaluated fields within this process will be:

  • maritime, air and land borders;
  • police cooperation;
  • visas;
  • personal data protection;
  • S.I.S.

The Romanian Border Police - as a specialized institution of the Ministry of Administration and Interior, with duties in border crossing surveillance and control, prevention and combating illegal migration and the specific cross-border crime acts, observation of  the juridical regime of the state border, passports and aliens etc. - has the responsibility to ensure a high level of surveillance and control of the future Schengen external borders, by implementing the Community norms and rules to this effect.

For this end, sustained efforts are made for carrying on with the legislative harmonization process and for institutional construction, personnel training, implementation of certain modern management policies and concepts, optimization of the working procedures etc.

Also, the development of internal and external interinstitutional cooperation, as well as the increase of the technical-operative capacity of R.B.P. is permanently pursued, its aim being to curb cross-border crime and to ensure a high level of security of the Romanian borders (out of which more than 2.000 km. represent the E.U. external border - the future Schengen external border).

The progresses achieved by the Romanian Border Police for the accession of Romania to the Schengen area: 2007 | 2008.

IMPORTANT:

Until the accession date to the Schengen area, the borders with Ukraine and Bulgaria are considered, according to the Schengen acquis, as a Schengen external border (Article 1 of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement from 1985 and chapter I - Internal borders - of the Schengen Action Plan reviewed in 2008), even if these are internal border of the European Union.

As a consequence, at the level of these borders, until the date of the accession, the border check will be further carried out by applying the common check principle (Article 17 of Regulation EC No 562/2006) jointly with the border authorities of the neighbouring states – Hungary and Bulgaria, based on the concluded bilateral agreements.

From the date of Romania's and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area, the regime of the Danube River will be that of an internal land border, following that the specific checks be carried out only in the entry / exit harbour in / out of the Schengen area, like Calafat - Vidin and Galati (the border checksbetween the two harbours will be abolished).

For the ships in transit on the Danube River, without stop in the Romanian harbours, as well as the ships entering / exiting in / out of the Schengen area, the border checks on entry and exit in / out of the Schengen area will be carried out in Calafat, Galati, Tulcea, Sulina and Constanta Sud-Agigea harbours.

Also, Romania and Bulgaria will be further bound to supervise the external border with Serbia, as well as the border section between Romania and Serbia, made up by the Danube River - between Bazias and the first Romanian - Bulgarian common border crossing point - Calafat - Vidin.

Accession of Romania to the Schengen Area: www.schengen.mira.gov.ro.

The Romanian Border Police s the specialized state institution which carries out the attributions appertaining to it and referring to the surveillance and control of the crossing of the state border ... read more