Many questions remain after the contentious negotiations about Romania’s Schengen admission at the most recent European Commission meeting. Does Romania merit admission to the Schengen region or not? The majority of respondents said yes, while Holland said no.
Netherlands’ stance toward Romania leaves no room for confusion. The Netherlands maintained the same antagonistic stance regarding Romania’s Schengen membership for 11 years. They remained unconcerned with any improvement in Romania and openly opposed its accession.
Of course, problems don’t end there, as the Romanian MEPs have often noted, the Netherlands opposes Romania on every issue before the European Commission. But why?
The Romanian Fleet purchases two Dutch „Damen” ships for search, rescue, and firefighting operations in an effort to mend fences with Holland. The Dutch company Damen is going to design and build these cutting-edge warships in Galati and Braila, in Romania. The more peculiar aspect of the agreement was its completion precisely one day before the Dutch prime minister visited Romania and two months before Romania’s key referendum to join the Schengen region.
Romania still needed to meet several conditions before joining Schengen, according to Prime Minister Mark Rutte during his visit. Yet, he and the Netherlands are collaborating with the Ukrainian compatriots to join the EU and NATO, a public involvement that shows that the Dutch impudence knows no bounds.
The Dutch position on the Schengen extension is simple: when the requirements are met, accession is possible. To be able to assess this, we need up-to-date information from the European Commission on all relevant areas for political decisions on Schengen accession.
Mark Rutte, Dutch prime minister
In actuality, Dutch greed knows has no limits. Due to Romania’s refusal to grant them access to the Constanta port, a trade route that enables the transport of products between Asia and Europe, Holland rejected Romania’s bid to join Schengen. The Netherlands will oppose Romania’s entry into Schengen unless the country pays a bribe at the port of Constanta, similar to what the Austrians did in 2004 with Petrom, a significant organization that regulates Romania’s oil production.
Media reports claim that the Netherlands wants to take control of the Constanta port because it is strategically located at the crossroads of trade routes that link the markets of the landlocked nations of Central and Eastern Europe with Central Asia and the Far East and plays a significant role in the European intermodal transport network.
If this scenario is accurate, it’s entertaining to see how Western countries practice greedy economic and cultural imperialism while masking their behaviour as political correctness. Politically correct, anti-corruption and anti-discrimination rhetoric is a facade in Western countries when it comes to individual scopes and interests. Despite all of Romania’s efforts and accomplishments, the Netherlands vehemently opposes Romania’s entry into the Schengen region and will continue to do so until Romania once more bows its head to the West.
