Austria against Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria
“It’s wrong that a system that doesn’t work in many places is also enlarged here,” said Karner in the run-up to the meeting in Romania and Bulgaria. Today there were more than 100,000 illegal border crossings into Austria, of which 75,000 were not registered, according to the interior minister. Karner spoke out in favor of postponing the vote.
In fact, unwanted migration to the EU has increased significantly in 2022. Between January and October, the border protection agency Frontex counted 281,000 irregular border crossings, an increase of 77 percent compared to the same period last year. At least with regard to Romania, the numbers of those who were registered there and who traveled to Austria without permission were very low.
Romania’s head of government, Nicolae Ciuca, said in a first reaction that he “cannot understand the inflexibility of the Austrian federal government, even with the best will in the world”. Vienna argued with “completely wrong numbers” and disappointingly rejected all proposed solutions and compromises. Nonetheless, his country will not give up – on the contrary, they are even more motivated, especially since all other EU states have spoken out in favor of Romania’s Schengen membership, according to Ciuca.
Similar criticism came from Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev. Austria has no “clear data on where the migrants come from,” said Demerdschiev. “Our position and the position of the EU Commission is that most of these flows come from Serbia.”
The Netherlands also voted against the admission of the two countries. In Brussels, Interior Minister Eric van der Burg called for a new report on the fight against corruption and respect for human rights in the country, which has been a member of the EU since 2007.
Croatia can look forward to it. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković wrote on Twitter that Croatian citizens and the economy will benefit the most from the inclusion of the coveted holiday destination. It is expected that 80 percent of the goods and 75 percent of foreign visitors will come to Croatia from Schengen countries. “There are no longer any borders on our European path,” tweeted Interior Minister Davor Božinovic.
With the accession, the waiting time for tourists who travel to Croatia by car via Slovenia or Hungary will be longer from the beginning of 2023. For technical reasons, passport controls at Croatian airports will only be eliminated from March 26th.
With Thursday’s decision, the first Schengen expansion in more than ten years is imminent. In 2011, controls at the land borders with Liechtenstein were lifted.
From January, 27 European countries will belong to the visa-free zone. These include 23 EU countries and four partner states: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson spoke of “a very good message for all EU citizens”. At the same time, she expressed her disappointment that the member states did not have the necessary unanimity for Bulgaria and Romania. Johansson said in Brussels that their citizens would also have deserved accession to the Schengen area, which has been hoped for for more than a decade. “I am convinced that her time will come soon,” Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakušan tried to console.
“The veto against the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria does not solve any problem – on the contrary,” tweeted EU Parliament Vice President Othmar Karas (ÖVP). “Yes, Austria is currently experiencing a disproportionate burden. That’s why we finally need a common EU asylum system. But this has nothing to do with the Schengen expansion.”
The veto in the fight against illegal migration does not go far enough for the Freedom Party: “This does not solve the asylum chaos, including the exploding illegal border crossings,” said FPÖ security spokesman Hannes Amesbauer. There are “domestic factors that continue to make our country the number 1 target country”.
“Austria’s veto on Romania’s and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession from January 2023 does not correspond to European values,” criticized the two Green MEPs Monika Vana and Thomas Waitz. The countries would meet “all the requirements”.
Criticism also came from NEOS. “The federal government has finally expelled us from European politics,” said MEP Claudia Gamon, according to the broadcast. “Our local companies will pay the price for Karner’s reckless veto.”