Schengen “hasn’t worked for a very long time” – Austria
Only when the situation changes will Chancellor Nehammer reassess the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) will only talk again about Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen when border protection there has been improved and the situation in Austria has improved. It is up to the EU Commission to take up the proposals of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, Nehammer said in the ORF “Press Hour”. “Then we can talk about a timetable.”
Schengen reassessment only if the situation changes
“If I want to have a Schengen area, I need strong external borders so that internal borders can be dismantled,” emphasized Nehammer. But that hasn’t worked for a very long time. “Of 100,000 asylum seekers, as a landlocked country, we have to register 75,000 for the first time?” the Chancellor said to the EU. The fact that Schengen does not work is shown by the numerous internal controls in the EU area. You can’t just take note of that and plan the next expansion.
Nehammer cannot understand the boycott threats against Austrian companies from Romania and Bulgaria. It is “absolutely inadmissible to mix security police and economic policy issues.” The EU is primarily an economic community. At the same time, he recalled that Germany had blocked Austria’s Schengen entry for two and a half years. A mixture of security and economic issues is not expedient. Austria has always made an offer of assistance to the Romanian and Bulgarian authorities.
Nehammer wants to separate issues of asylum and immigration
The issues of asylum and immigration will separate Nehammer from each other. “We have always advocated qualitative immigration.” But Austria needs people who are willing and able to work – and not people who have come to Austria on the initiative of smugglers. “If we don’t succeed in separating asylum and migration, we’re not doing the issue of asylum any good either.”
Nehammer pleaded for a proper way of immigration – for example for people from India. “But we make the decision who comes, not organized crime.” If Indians get on a plane to Belgrade, travel on to the EU and then apply for asylum where they like it best, that no longer has anything to do with protection from persecution. “We’re talking about migration.”
“Two ways” in relation to Hungary
When it comes to relations with Hungary, Nehammer would like to “go two ways”: On the one hand, you have to support the rule of law in the EU and on the other hand, you need security police cooperation with the state: “We’re also neighbors.” Nehammer did not yet want to decide how Austria would behave in the proceedings due to concerns about the rule of law in Hungary. You are only at the beginning of the process and do not yet know all the documents. So far, however, the Prime Minister’s proposals have always been made by the Commission.