Bucharest is considering seeking compensation for losses suffered by carriers since Romania was first denied entry to the visa-free Schengen zone in 2011, Romanian Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Monday, adding that losses amounted to 2% of the country’s GDP.
Speaking on Prima TV, Grindeanu said he told EU Commissioner Adina Vălean that Romania had made substantial investments in maintaining the eastern national roads, which as a result of the heavy influx of trucks coming from Ukraine, have experienced a deterioration.
“I have urged my colleagues to calculate the costs incurred by carriers. I think the Romanian state should ask for compensation”, Grindeanu said.
“The impact of not entering Schengen is 2% of the GDP”, he said, noting that a precise figure would be determined following discussions between Transport Ministry officials and carriers.
USR MEP Vlad Gheorghe has also raised the issue of compensation, but his focus is on Austria, as he recently presented his counterparts from the country with a staggering €11 billion bill.
He also proposed an amendment on compensation in the Schengen resolution adopted by the European Parliament in July.
The resolution calls on the Commission to “estimate the financial losses, missed benefits and environmental damage suffered by Romania and Bulgaria, as well as by the Union as a whole, since 2011 due to the fact that Romania and Bulgaria are not Schengen members”.
MEPs believe that the Commission should analyse possible mechanisms to compensate for the financial losses suffered by Bulgaria and Romania as a result of the “negative and unjustified denial of Schengen area membership”.
(Cătălina Mihai | EURACTIV.ro)
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