Cătălin-Ioan Nechifor (PSE). – (RO) I would have preferred my first one minute speech not to deal with a negative topic, but what happened last week on the Eastern border of the European Union should serve as a warning to us all.

On 21 and 22 January, groups of Ukrainian citizens blocked the access of cars to the Siret-Porubnoe border post, between Romania and the Ukraine, because of their discontentment with the requirement to pay for a visa for entering Romanian territory, whereas Romanian nationals no longer require a visa to go to the Ukraine as of 1 January 2008.

As a Member State, Romania must comply with European regulations concerning visas for non-EU nationals and cannot possibly grant preferential treatment to the Ukraine. This is why I believe that the Parliament and the Commission should ask for more consistent action from the Ukraine, as a means of asserting its European vocation...

(President interrupts the speaker)