The Minister of Europe, Karoline Edstadler (ÖVP), is now waiting for Sweden, the vice-chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) prefers to expel Hungary from the Schengen zone.
Vienna. Minister for Europe Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) defended Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s commitment to use EU funds to support Bulgaria in building physical barriers at the EU’s external border. “It was necessary to speak loudly to other states and their border protection, like Bulgaria, which has a difficult border with Turkey. Migration pressure is particularly high here.” The EU Commission said a few days ago that Bulgaria should say what it needs to. That’s why it already sees a rethink of the EU’s authority. “Of course, the fences are just one of many measures that need to be taken and that already exist in 11 of the 27 Member States.”
Edtstadler wants to link Austria’s Yes to Romania’s and Bulgaria’s Schengen membership for progress in the EU’s migration policy. “Schengen expansion is something we obviously want to discuss further in coordination with our partners Bulgaria and Romania, so that we can put it back on the agenda once the appropriate steps have been taken in migration and asylum policy.” Edtstadler referred to this that in January, with Sweden, a country that assumes the Presidency of the Council of the EU “that has been tried and tested at the same time when it comes to migration”. She hopes that this issue will also “remain at the top of the agenda and that we may already have concrete solutions on the table in mid-2023”. The Schengen decision will not be postponed until the entire asylum package has been decided at EU level with numerous legal acts, as this will take some time. “But you have to take those steps step by step and come up with a plan. So we might as well talk again about expanding Schengen to include Bulgaria and Romania,” said the EU minister.
Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) questioned the veto forced by members of the ÖVP government against Romania and Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen. In fact, the problems reside in Hungary, Kogler said in an interview with “Kleine Zeitung” published at Christmas: “If we were to stick to the logic of the interior minister, then Hungary would have to be expelled from Schengen, because that’s where it comes from most unrecorded transfers from Austria.” The Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, justified the veto against the entry of Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen area with the increase of illegal migration, also through the Balkan route. From the point of view of the EU Commission and the European Parliament, both countries have fulfilled all the conditions for joining Schengen.
Kogler basically showed that he understood that something had to be changed in the system: “It can’t be that we registered more than 100,000 people in Austria according to the rules and realized that 75,000 to 80,000 were not registered before.” demanded fences at the EU’s external borders as a solution. When asked about the existence of such a fence on Hungary’s southern border, he said: “This is exactly what shows that a fence alone does not help. That is why we are working on solutions. And I believe that we will succeed. In any case, Romania and Bulgaria should be included in the Schengen area next year, according to the vice-chancellor: “That is the objective”.
Jesuit Father Georg Sporschill, who has been charitably active in Romania for over 30 years, criticized Austria’s veto in the “Kronen Zeitung” as a domestic political move that did Romanians an injustice. “That’s how my Romanian friends understood it. They love Austria and saw the veto as cruelty that didn’t help anyone.” (Red./APA)