The Netherlands has accused Bucharest of 'old-school blackmail', writes DANIEL MCLAUGHLIN
ANGERED BY Dutch opposition to its membership of the European Union’s “borderless” Schengen zone, Romania is accused of taking revenge on a cherished Dutch national symbol – the tulip.
Since Friday, Romanian border guards have prevented at least a dozen trucks carrying flowers, seeds and bulbs from entering the country, sending several back to the Netherlands and impounding others for tests on their cargo.
Health officials in Romania talk darkly but vaguely of the suspected presence of unnamed “dangerous bacteria” in the tulips. The Dutch, however, see poisonous political tactics at work.
They say it is no coincidence that the tulip scare erupted on the day the Dutch government announced that it would prevent Romania and Bulgaria gaining clearance to join the Schengen zone at a meeting of EU interior ministers that begins today.
The Balkan neighbours, who joined the EU in 2007, hoped to receive permission in March to join Schengen, an area of passport-free travel encompassing 400 million people in 22 EU states plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. It is named after the village in Luxembourg where the relevant treaty was signed in 1985.
Their bid for swift entry to Schengen was stymied, however, as rich west European nations fell prey to economic woes, concerns over an influx of refugees from restive north Africa, and a sometimes violent reaction against Roma arrivals from central and eastern Europe.
With an eye to financial strains, falling popularity and a dissatisfied public, the leaders of European heavyweights Germany and France told Bucharest and Sofia that they had not done enough to fight organised crime and corruption, hampering their ability to prevent illegal immigration and leaving them short of the required standard for Schengen membership.
Both countries intensified their efforts, with Romania arresting scores of border guards and customs officers on suspicion of bribe-taking, and Bulgaria tracking down dozens of suspected criminals and stolen vehicles listed on the Schengen information system.
Inspectors from Brussels say both countries are technically ready to join the zone, and the European Parliament has given them its strong backing.
France has softened its position and now suggests granting the candidates two-stage entry to Schengen – allowing passport-free travel through their airports this year with a view to opening their land borders in 2012. Some analysts say Germany and other sceptics such as Sweden, Denmark and Finland could also accept this compromise, but the Dutch have flatly rejected it – and no country can join Schengen without the approval of all the current members.
“It was decided by the cabinet that we are still against the joining of Romania and Bulgaria. As the Netherlands, we will be saying ‘no’ at the meeting planned in Brussels next week,” Dutch immigration ministry spokeswoman Elaine de Boer said last Friday. That night, Romania’s beleaguered customs inspectors started blocking Dutch flowers at the border.
“It looks like Romanian authorities have chosen the Dutch tulip – a core product of the Netherlands economy, with a high symbolic value – for a bit of old-school blackmail,” said Dutch MEP Esther de Lange, who wants the EU to investigate the affair.
In Bucharest and Sofia, meanwhile, diplomats blamed their latest Schengen travails on Geert Wilders’s right-wing Freedom Party (PVV) which now helps prop up a minority Dutch government. “The position of the Dutch government is disappointing for us, although it is no surprise, given that its political survival depends on the populist and anti-migration PVV party,” said Romanian foreign minister Theodor Baconschi.
“I think there is consensus on the two-step scenario; the Netherlands has internal political difficulties related to its ruling coalition configuration, but I hope it will not single itself out.”
Bulgaria was equally scathing of The Hague’s position, and suggested it could block EU plans to reform Schengen’s rules if the Netherlands insists on freezing it out. “If EU interior ministers at their meeting on Thursday take a reasonable decision that meets the interests of all in Europe . . . then we will support Schengen reform,” said Sofia’s foreign minister, Nikolay Mladenov.
“However, if such a decision is not taken, we will have to consider our policy very carefully,” he warned.