Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister: Romania belongs in Schengen, you have important borders

  The Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel expressed his conviction on Wednesay that Romania’s place is in Schengen and ‘ the checks must stop” at borders, statements made during a joint press release organized with the Romanian minister for Foreign Affairs, Luminita Odobescu, on the margin of the Annual Reunion of the Romanian Diplomacy.He mentioned that the geographic situation offers Romania a ‘very important’ role at present.‘You have Moldova very close; Moldova needs you. You have a border with a country which is suffering, a country at war, a country which is aggressed and it is important that they have your support.(…). Luxembourg is on your side, as today, when we are talking about solidarity, it cannot be about the geographical situation only, where only the one who is on the site must suffer the consequences, either NATO level or level of migration. At present, solidarity must be applied in all situations. At the level of the EU, some countries consider that solidarity matters only as far as they are concerned. But, solidarity must be a EU principle as well’ said the Luxembourg diplomat.Xavier Bettel mentioned that he visited the military base Cincu, after a similar visit made in September, to show ‘ the support and solidarity’ of the government for the young Luxembourg soldiers.At the same time, he drew the attention of the situation in Israel and Gaza where ‘civilians die every day’.‘ For the international law to be observed, we have to see what is happening from a human point of view, and the conclusion we had following the discussions is that common issues need common answers (…). Everybody must understand that the security of the Israeli will be peace of the Palestinians and the Palestinians peace will be the security of the Israeli’ he said.Xavier Bettet confessed he has Romanian origins, and Moldavian ones as his genealogy starts from that region.‘So, I feel somewhat at home here. Especially when we have friends, then we feel like a family’ he said. At the same time, he reminded that next year 75 years of bilateral diplomatic relations will be celebrated and mentioned that there is interest for the development of existing connections, including the commercial ones. So, until the end of the year an economic visit will be organized by the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce.