Romania is looking for mechanisms to accelerate its accession to the Schengen area. Responding to scepticism of the old EU member states (France and Germany), the Romanian government arranged a demonstrative fight against corruption at the border with Ukraine.
Romanian police arrested a number of customs officers on Thursday who worked at the Romanian-Ukrainian border. This happened within a campaign of fighting against corruption, which aims to promote the country’s accession to the Schengen zone.
According to Romanian media, 77 customs officers and border police were arrested by suspicion of corruption. They are accused of receiving bribes for promoting the cigarettes’ smuggling. Group of officials were under observation at the Romanian-Ukrainian border in the last six months .
We remind you that Romania hoped to join the Schengen zone in March. But France and Germany blocked the rapid accession of this country and Bulgaria also. They proved this by saying that these two states didn’t do enough to combat corruption and their borders don’t have enough protection from external risks.
Read more on: Deutsche Welle
