CONTROVERSIES REGARDING THE SECURITY OF ROMANIA’S EASTERN BORDER IN VIEW OF JOINING THE SCHENGEN AREA

After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and recently, on 15 April 2013, spent in Boston, policymakers of the Western governments were aware of the risks and threats to the national security of states and international security from the so-called "extend region of the Black Sea". This region of the world is separated geographically and symbolically by the Prut River which is the eastern border of Romania to NATO and EU allies and, in perspective, the frontier of the member states of the Schengen Agreement. Romania's eastern border security separates two spaces of security: the space of the Western states that are energy intensive and providing security versus the space of the former soviet countries that can provide energy and, at the same time, they need security. During this uncertain geopolitical context, controversies related to Romania's accession to the Schengen Area enhances security risks and vulnerabilities to the eastern border of the Western space and endangers the securing project of the Wider Black Sea. In this region full of uncertainty for the international peace and security, the EU should act as a "model of soft power in the Eastern neighbourhood".