According to Bucharest, Romania and Bulgaria will gradually join the Schengen system and border controls on air and sea traffic should be abolished as early as March. The Ministry of the Interior in Vienna insists on the conditions of the ongoing negotiations.
Romania, Bulgaria and Austria have reached a “political agreement” on the expansion of Schengen, according to the governments of Bucharest and Sofia. Thus, Bulgaria and Romania will apply the Schengen law on their air and sea borders from March 2024, the Romanian Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday. The Interior Ministry in Vienna said only on Thursday that negotiations were continuing.
The Austrian conditions for an “Air Schengen” are increased Frontex operations in Bulgaria and EU Commission money for robust external border protection. The Interior Ministry in Vienna also said there were calls for increased controls at land borders and for asylum seekers, especially from Afghanistan and Syria, to be taken over by Romania and Bulgaria.
“Air Schengen” yes, “Land Schengen” no
In early December, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) proposed that the Schengen borders could be abandoned for air traffic with Bulgaria and Romania if, in return, there were stricter border controls. “Schengen-Air” means that passengers from Romania and Bulgaria will no longer have to fly to Europe through international terminals; your passports will be checked by the airlines at the boarding gate, as usual. The Austrian Ministry of the Interior stressed this Thursday that there are currently no negotiations and therefore no date for accession to the “Schengen country”.
The agreement was reached on 23 December between the interior ministries of Vienna, Sofia and Bucharest and was subsequently discussed through diplomatic channels, at the level of the foreign ministries and in EU representations, so that it could be legally incorporated into EU decisions. Permanent Representatives Committee. (COREPER), continued the Romanian Ministry of the Interior. Therefore, negotiations on full Schengen membership should continue “at full steam” next year, taking into account Austria's demands for greater protection of external borders and the Dublin III Regulation.
Ministry of the Interior locates “constructive discussions”
In its broadcast, the Department of the Interior in Bucharest thanked the European Commission and the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council, as well as the Ministries of the Interior in Vienna and Sofia for the “constructive discussions” that ultimately made this agreement possible. According to the official Agerpres agency, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs added: The agreement was reached on December 23 at the level of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Austria, Romania and Bulgaria. On the 26th and 27th of December, discussions took place through diplomatic channels between the three ministries of the Interior, the three ministries of Foreign Affairs and the representations of the three countries to the EU in Brussels. These were plans on how the political agreement would be legally incorporated into a Council decision. “Discussions on this will continue on December 28,” he said.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkow said on Thursday that Austria has committed to continuing land negotiations on Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the borderless Schengen area. After complicated negotiations, the two countries reached a fundamental agreement with Austria on joining Schengen by air and sea, Denkow said, according to Bulgarian news agency BTA. These negotiations will be accompanied by significant support from the European Commission to secure the EU's external borders with Turkey and Serbia and thus reduce the flow of illegal migrants into Europe, Denkow continued.
Romanian Prime Minister celebrates “political agreement”
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu wrote in a Facebook post: “After 13 years, Romania is finally becoming a member of Schengen! We have a political agreement! From March next year, Romanians will benefit from the advantages of the Schengen area in the air and at sea.” Ciolacu stressed that the Black Sea port of Constance in particular will gain importance as a result. The socialist Ciolacu was “convinced” that an agreement with Austria on land borders would also be reached in 2024.
Meanwhile, the head of the FPÖ delegation in the European Parliament, Harald Vilimsky, described the agreement between Romania, Bulgaria and Austria on the Schengen expansion of both countries as a “wrong and precarious decision”. “What is being sold to people as 'gradual accession to Schengen' is nothing more than another gateway for rampant illegal migration to Austria and therefore a clear security risk for our country,” commented Vilimsky on the deal. This decision would lead to a greater loss of control and provide more opportunities for smugglers and illegal migrants to reach Austria, Vilimsky said.
The ÖVP accuses the FPÖ of spreading “untruths”.
“The FPÖ is once again spreading untruths about the Schengen issue. The Schengen borders will only be opened when reliable protection of the external borders is guaranteed,” replied ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker. This is the unchanged position of the Austrian Federal Government and has been repeatedly highlighted by Interior Minister Karner. “It is sad that the FPÖ is only responding to the successful reduction in the number of asylum seekers and the paradigm shift in European asylum law with untruths,” continued Stocker. “As everyone except Mr Vilimsky has noted, the smugglers' routes to Austria do not go by air, but rather via land borders, which are still controlled,” said the ÖVP General Secretary.
SPÖ foreign policy spokeswoman Petra Bayr described the agreement between Austria, Romania and Bulgaria to implement the Schengen Agreement by air and sea from March as “maximum relief for managers”. “The nursing staff from Romania and Bulgaria who come to Austria do not come by plane, but by land. We urgently need help, especially for these important skilled workers – in their interests and in the interests of people in need of care in Austria,” said Bayr. The SPÖ National Council member further emphasized that the government does not have the needs and concerns of Austrians in mind, otherwise it would not maintain the huge obstacles for caregivers. (APA)