MEP Eugen Tomats declares that Austria’s current position in the case of Romania’s accession to the Schengen zone is discriminatory, and in case the Austrian side opposes our country’s entry into the free movement zone on December 8, such a decision meets all the elements for formulating an appeal to the EU Court.

“What can we do if Austria blocks us from Schengen? For many years, the only country that opposed our access to the Schengen area was the Netherlands. Here, a joint effort between Romania and Europe convinced politicians in the Netherlands to change their stance, and the Hague gave us some good news this week. The Netherlands supports our entry. I had certain emotions related to Sweden’s position, but even from Stockholm we have green. The only country that opposes it is Austria, where the government, through Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, still claims, completely incorrectly, that we should not be admitted to Schengen. Austria’s position is discriminatory and we hope that Vienna will reconsider its decision on December 8 and not block us,” Tomak said on Sunday in a post on his Facebook page, according to Agerpres.

He argues that the approach of the Austrian side – for example, that a country that recently joined the European Union, in relation to Croatia, is much better technically prepared than Romania – shows that the political decision is based on a different argumentation than the one regarding objective criteria regarding border management.

Tomak: “In case of blocking, our response must be ready immediately”

“What are we left to do if the Austrian government remains the only one in the European Union to block us in Schengen? If, on Thursday, December 8, Austria is the only state to oppose our application to join the Schengen area, I believe that there are all the elements to formulate a new appeal to the Court of Justice of the EU – as it allegedly violates Regulation 2016/399 on the Union Code regarding the regime border crossing by persons. There is no good reason to refuse our entry into the Schengen area. In the event of a stalemate, our response must be ready immediately. I will certainly ask the European Commission to protect European law and the Schengen Regulation in the face of political excesses, even if they are from the side of Austria,” Tomak said.

In the same context, he reminds that a decision was also made in Vienna 4 years ago by which Romanian citizens were discriminated against due to the refusal of the authorities to provide Romanian children with indexed benefits in accordance with the provisions of European legislation, more precisely in accordance with the contributions of parents who carried out their activities on the territory of Austria .

“Thus, Romanian children received the amount of aid from the country of birth, not the one provided for in Austria. We brought this discriminatory measure to the attention of the European Commission in March 2020. In May 2020, the European Commission appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union against the Austrian government. On June 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Austria broke European law when it cut aid to children from Romania and other Eastern European countries. Thus, this forced the Austrian government to comply with the Regulation on the free movement of workers within the European Union. Also pay the full amount of non-indexed amounts for children affected by the measures to cut child benefits,” explains Tomač.

Read also:

• Cholos: “The key to Schengen is now in Vienna, in the hands of a popular European family that includes PNL, PMP and UDMR”
• After good news from the Netherlands and Sweden, bad news from Austria. Interior Minister on Schengen: “It makes sense to include Croatia, but not Romania and Bulgaria now”
• Romania’s unknown sea a week before the crucial moment of Schengen accession. All Scripts for JAI Board