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Minister of Foreign Affairs starts today an official visit to France

Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Baconschi pays an official visit to the French Republic on April 5-6, invited by his French counterpart Alain Juppe, reads a release sent by MAE.

The schedule of the visit to be paid by Minister Teodor Baconschi includes talks with Minister of State, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Alain Juppe, with Minister of European Affairs Laurent Wauquiez, with Minister of the Interior, Overseas Territories and Territorial Collectivities and Immigration Claude Gueant and with Jean-Francois Cope, general secretary of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement.

During the official talks the Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister is going to hold in Paris with French officials, they will evaluate the stages and the prospects of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and France. They will also approach other subjects such as Romania's joining the Schengen area, the EU financial prospect after 2013, the Common Agricultural Policy, the Eastern Partnership, the developments in the Middle East and the situation in Libya, the MAE release reads.

Minister Baconschi will also meet members of the 'Cercles des Europeens' at the Express editorial office, also informs the above-mentioned source.

Baconschi's visit to Paris, while there have been some misunderstanding in the Romanian-French relations

The official visit that the foreign affairs minister Teodor Baconschi starts on Tuesday to Paris takes place as there have been some misunderstandings between the two countries, increased in the summer of last year by the Rroma issue and hightened by the French opposition to Romania's accession to Schengen. Baconschi who will be in an official visit to France on Tuesday and Wendsday will have meetings with his counterpart Alain Juppe and the minister for European Affairs Laurent Wauquiez, the minister for immigration Claude Gueant and the general secretary of UMP.

The visit to Paris of the foreign affairs minister had been programmed for the period 7-8 March but it was postponed two days before « due to agenda reasons », according to the explanations given by the MFA at that moment.

One of the issues about which there are discussions between Paris and Bucharest is Romania's accession to Schengen. The ministers of home affairs of France and Germany sent in December to the European Commission a letter in which they required the postponement of Romania's accession as well as of Bulgaria's to Schengen, the request being addressed to the Belgian presidency of the EU at that moment and Hungary, which took over the presidency on 1 January.

The ministers of home affairs of Germany and France appreciated in the letter they sent to the EC that the decision regarding Romania's and Bulgaria's accession to Schengen should be discussed « when the two states start irreversible progress in the fight against corruption, organised crime and reform ». « The conditions for accession are not met by the two countries » wrote the two ministers. President Traian Basescu replied that the letter of the French and German ministers in which they required the postponement of Romania's accession to Schengen is « discrimination » at the address of the Romanians. He said that the target of the letter is discrimation as they require postponement of Schengen accession for reasons which are not included in the acquis of the Schengen space.

The foreign affairs minister presented in the government a notice regarding the accession to Schengen where they showed that the ministers' letter includes political opinions, which exceed the technical character of the process, and that Romania has to continue to meet her pledges.

France's position – unchanged mainly – was changed along the time by the officials in Paris. Thus, on 6 January the French minister of European Affairs Laurent Wauquiez stated at RFI that France does not oppose that Romania gets into Schengen in 2011 but as Bulgaria is not prepared the two countries cannot access in the next three months.

He spoke about corruption in Romania and Bulgaria even if Bucharest – he says – makes efforts to fight against it.

Another issue which tensioned the relations French –Romania was the French policy against the Rroma from Eastern Europe, at the end of July 2010 which was translated by the accelerated destruction of camps and the sending back of hundreds of Rroma in Romania and Bulgaria.

After a series of changes of words, the two countries decided on 9 September to « put an end to the sterile discussions » and cooperate for the improvement of the life conditions of that minority. President Basescu said in this context that « out of the 1.5 million Rroma who live in Romania, one million are integrated » including on the political scene and « 500,000 are not yet integrated ». And referring to France's attitude against the Rroma issue, the head of state stated on TVR1 that the French government acts outside the conditions of an European state as regards sending back the Romanian Rroma citizens to Romania.

France's attitude in this matter was sanctioned by the international organisations. Among those, EC which announced in September last year the starting of a procedure of infringement. The tension in the relations between Romania and France was often presented and in the statements of ambassador Henry Paul He explained on 10 January in an interview offered to « Evenimentul zilei » that his country could be accused of discrimating against Romania but its accession to the Schengen space in March 2011 is premature, the diplomat saying that Paris is not willing to negotiate.

The agenda of minister Baconschi's visit to Paris will include the strategic partnership Romanian-French,signed by presidents Basescu and Sarkozy. A partnership Adrian Severin considered at the end of 2010 as « dead » and about which ambassador Henri Paul said that it had some faults as regards the security and defence matters.

Sursa: http://www.actmedia.eu

Tags: accession rroma schengen romanias laquo raquo against letter which minister romania official affairs foreign visit france european paris french baconschi tvr