Finland Times

 

The Romanian Prime Minister, Victor Ponta on Monday said that his country has taken all-out  preparations to fulfil the criteria to make it eligible as a  member of Schengen  and decision regarding inclusion of Romania in air border expected to be made by the end of this year.

Victor Ponta during his visit to Finland  a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Jyrki Katainen also sought Finland support in this regard assuring that the situation of Romania has improved significantly by this time.

“The decision on bringing Romania under the Schengen  air area is expected to come by the end of this year,” said the visiting Premier at a joint press conference after the meeting, adding that positive assessment would be first stage to approach  toward the process.

Although  Finland had reservation  about inclusion of Romania and Bulgaria in Schengen area due to the fragile law and order situation of the countries, Jyrki Katainen said that Finland would consider the issue after the CVM report.

“The situation seemed to be positive as the last CVM report showed many positive signals.  The decision regarding inclusion in Schengen issue will be easier, if the further report is positive,” said the Finland Prime Minister.

Katainen emphasised to the necessity for new mechanism at European Union level ensuring the rule of law, curbing organized crime and corruption. 

Both the Prime Ministers, however, said that the Schengen  issue was not the main topic of their discussions and they agreed to work together on various issues to solve different problems.

The meeting between the prime ministers of Romania and Finland was held after seven years as the bilateral talks between the heads of two states took place last time in 2006.

They, however, met in various occasions in joint platforms in European Union and other international forums.

Katainen and Ponta also  discussed various bilateral issues when the visiting Prime Minister appreciated education and mining  systems in Finland.

Ponta expressed interest to the information technology and requested Finland assistance for mining exploration operations.