One of the most serious challenges to the European unity is represented by the increased structural, political and implementation diversity brought up by the new EU members. The prospects of enlarging the continent’s borders by fully integrating Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen area ignited controversial debates that questioned the practicability of EU’s motto “Unity in diversity”. In my paper I have analysed the unique political dynamics that accompanied Romania in the Schengen accession process. Since 2011 Romania has been caught in an indeterminate state between having fulfilled the technical requirements and becoming a fully-fledged Schengen member. The contradictory behaviour of the Council combined with the vague explanations given by the EU officials regarding the decision to delay Romania’s accession signal an urgent need to overcome the internal mistrust in the EU’s institutions. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to analyse the legal grounds of the reasons invoked for denying Romania’s accession to the Schengen zone. I concluded the paper with essential recommendations for both the Romanian and the European administration that could be used to find a solution to this political deadlock.
Keywords:
Schengen, borders, technical criteria, corruption, identity, populism, media, Roma’s malintegration, migration, coupled accession, mistrust, securitization, structural reforms, cooperation, development
