Romania fears Netherlands can veto again its Schengen membership: report

A party in the ruling coalition in the Netherlands, CDA, led by the Foreign Minister of the country, Wopke Hoekstra, is not willing to allow Romania's accession to Schengen Area, European sources told G4Media.ro.

The opposition of the party could pause Romania's hopes of entering the Schengen area for another year, despite the support of the states like Germany and France for Bucharest.

"There are direct contacts with the Netherlands at the moment in order to prevent any reaction from the Dutch government. I can't give you details. But I can confirm that at the government level and the political group level we are making an effort not to have a problem," Renew MEP Dragoș Pîslaru told G4Media.

"We don't have a decision from the Netherlands to block us, it's something proactive, we want to make sure that there are no problems."

Romania's entry into the Schengen area and the termination of the Verification and Control Mechanism (MCV) are important political objectives for President Klaus Iohannis that are to be achieved by the end of the year.