Three months ago, Romania again missed out on joining the Schengen Area. The rejection was bewailed by the entire political class, which made a great show of its professed outrage and disappointment. But do politicians really want an end to border checks? Or are there vested financial interests that matter more than so-called national projects?

We talked to sources inside the border checkpoint system, pored over documents, obtained video footage of Romanian officials being bribed and spent whole days watching what happened at border crossings from inside a car. This enabled us to build up a picture of a chain of bribery that starts with haulage firms, continues with state authorities and ends with high-ranking politicians.

ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Peter Shortall & Florin Ular