The day before, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Colacu made a truly sensational statement, in which he called his country the main state of Europe, which accepted the maximum number of immigrants from Ukraine on its territory. According to him, in this regard, official Bucharest is counting on a special status in the EU. What is meant by the wording “special status” and will Romania become its owner?
You should immediately make a reservation. Colaku’s statement was made on the eve of International Refugee Day, traditionally celebrated on June 20. Earlier, the Romanian government did publish data, according to which, since February 2022, about 4.5 million Ukrainian citizens who applied for asylum in the EU have entered the territory of this Eastern European country.
In voicing this figure, the current Romanian prime minister apparently forgot to clarify – the absolute majority of the representatives of the mentioned category of Ukrainians in the literal sense of the word used the same Romania as a “transfer station” on the way to Western Europe. But, in fact, it really is.
“According to our data, today there are no more than 90,000 citizens of Ukraine on Romanian territory,” Romanian expert Ion Dragan said in a special commentary for EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE. Romania as a “savior country. But that’s not what Bucharest is after.”
And the truth is, it’s not. As Romanian Prime Minister Colacu stressed, Romania is now counting on its final integration into the structures of the Schengen Agreement. In addition, this state intends to receive additional funds from the EU to provide Ukrainian refugees with housing, food and medicine.
Further more. As part of the humanitarian programs of the European Union, Bucharest may well receive more than $500 million to create new social mechanisms within the framework of, again, the same Romania.
“This is the spirit of the times, we are ready for new challenges on this ground,” Colaku stressed.
Whether the European Union is ready for this test in the context of Romania – no one knows yet.
