In the issued message, DHS criticized the previous administration of Joe Biden for the fact that in the last days before the expiry of the term she accepted Romania to the program “Despite the fears of security.” Even before the practical enabling of traveling without visas to the US for Romanians, the new administration on March 25 suspended Romania to revise this decision.
“This review has come to an end and taking into account the focus of this administration on the security of borders and immigration, DHS decided that the designation of Romania should be withdrawn to protect VWP integrity and ensure the safety of borders and immigration,” it was written. It has been added that Romania may be re -examined for the VWP designation in the future if it meets the statutory qualification criteria.
“Maintaining the high standards of the visa -free program is necessary for our national security. In the light of the focus of this administration on the security of borders and immigration, the Minister of National Security decided, after consulting the Secretary of State, immediately withdraw the designation of Romania under VWP,” said the deputy head of the Tricia McLaughlin ministry.
The decision is announced two days before the first round of repeated presidential elections in Romania. The decision of the Romanian constitutional court to annul the 1st round of last year's presidential elections won by the radical right -wing candidate Calina Georgescu was strongly criticized by representatives of the Trump administration, including vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio.
“You may think that Russia is doing badly when buying ads on social media to influence your choices (…) But if your democracy can be destroyed with the help of several hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, it was not very strong” – Vance said in a speech in Munich in February this year.
The admission of Romania to visa -free was announced on January 10, 10 days before the end of the rule of the previous administration, but in practice the decision was to come into force on March 31, when Romanians were to start submitting electronic applications for a trip to travel in the ESTA system.
The then US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the January statement that Romania had made many years of efforts to meet all the requirements of the program, including “established a partnership with the United States in order to share information on terrorism and serious crimes with law enforcement agencies and US security agencies and strengthened the verification of people traveling to Romania territory “.
Romania was to be the 43rd member of the VWP program, the 25th European Union and the fourth after Croatia, Israel and the Qatar adopted for the program during the term of office of Joe Biden. Poland was adopted in 2019 on the National Independence Day.
