PM: Romania Met Technical Objective For Separation Of Schengen Passenger Flow At Otopeni Airport

He added the other sections of the airport’s new terminal building will be finalized until March 2011, when Romania is due to join the visa-free Schengen Area.

Boc and Transport Minister Anca Boagiu on Friday checked the stage of works for the implementation of the Schengen standards at the Henri Coanda Otopeni airport.

Boc reminded that Romania must assure the European Union it has met the technical requirements for Schengen accession and that Romanian authorities required the accession should not be conditioned by any political criteria, such as the issue of Roma ethnics or the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification on justice, which, he stressed, are two issues that must be tackled separately.

He stressed Romania is interested in the stand adopted by other countries, such as the Netherlands or France, regarding the country’s accession to the Schengen area, while relying on the principle that conditioning its accession on any political criteria whatsoever would breach the Treaty of Accession between the European Union and Romania.

Early October this year, Boc demanded the construction of the airport’s new terminal building be finalized by November 4, and warned „heads will roll” if the deadline is not met and Romania’s accession to the Schengen area will be affected.

Boc also said at the time that construction works on the new terminal are 75% finalized and stressed the project must be ready until November 4 because a Schengen mission will be in Romania in the November 15-17 period to check whether Romania meets the technical requirements for Schengen accession.