Between 29th and 30th of April 2024, the Ministerial Conference on the operationalization of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, organized by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, took place in Ghent, Belgium. Romania was represented by Mr. Marian-Cătălin Predoiu, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Internal Affairs.
The event brought together the ministers of the interior or migration from the EU member states and from the Schengen associated countries, representatives of the European Commission and the relevant EU Agencies.
During the conference, the representative of Romania emphasized the complexity of the new legislation in the field of migration and asylum and the importance of a good planning of the implementation measures and the allocation of the appropriate operational and financial resources. The Minister of Internal Affairs highlighted Romania’s efforts to ensure the security of the space of free movement, after the lifting of controls at the internal air and maritime borders, on March the 31st.
The Romanian dignitary evoked the positive results of the Pilot Project carried out by Romania at the border with Serbia, starting from March 2023, as well as the transformation of the fruitful collaboration with the Commission and the EU Agencies, within a new Cooperation Framework.
At the same time, during his intervention, Mr. Cătălin Predoiu made reference to the Romania’s launching of an initiative for strengthening regional cooperation to combat illegal migration and cross-border crime, together with the European Commission and the states of the region – Greece – Bulgaria – Hungary – Slovakia – Austria.
„After many years of negotiations, we are fast approaching the expected moment – the entry into force of the reform of the migration and asylum system. This historic reform should not just be passed on paper, but fundamentally change the way we work on the ground, at our borders and in our territory.
Attention is now shifting to the implementation of these reforms, and the Ghent Conference represents the first important step in this process. I had, in the last period of time, several meetings with my counterparts and this topic was always on the agenda.
The involvement of all relevant actors, at political, operational and technical level, is essential for the successful fulfillment of the pursued objectives, in synergy with adequate financial support.
Romania is ready to implement the Pact on Migration and Asylum and we have already started activities in this regard.
In anticipation of the implementation of the reform, during 2023, together with the European Commission and the EU Agencies, we ran a Pilot Project at the border with Serbia and demonstrated how a very good practice can sometimes prevail over an imperfect legislation, which will soon be replaced.
Our involvement in this initiative was consistent with the active steps our country is taking in regional efforts to reduce illegal migration flows and strengthen external border security.
This tool has been very useful and preventive actions have helped to reduce illegal migration flows by 97% and the number of detections of illegal entries has decreased by 50%.
The positive results of the Pilot Project encouraged us to go on. We took a new step by transforming the fruitful collaboration with the Commission and the EU agencies into a new Cooperation Framework, which we already have a very good pace of implementation and we are making progresses.”
