The mayor of Timisoara, Dominik Fritz, who is a German citizen, spoke live on Austria’s national TV channel, where he said that the Austrian government is making a historic mistake by voting against Romania’s accession to the Schengen area.

“Last night I was live on the news of the Austrian national TV station ORF and spoke once again about the urgent need for Romania to be accepted into Schengen today. The Austrian government is making a historic mistake with its veto,” Fritz wrote on Facebook.

In a message broadcast on Austrian television, the mayor of Timisoara says that by blocking Romania’s entry into Schengen, the Austrian government would make a “serious mistake”, as Austria is the only country in the EU that would block this extremely important step towards European integration.

• “I am the mayor of a city that will become the cultural capital of Europe next year. A city that was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is called a small Vienna, Timisoara. And I am the mayor myself, born and raised in Germany. And at the same time, because there is this wonderful EU, the people of Timisoara elected me two years ago as their mayor.
• I call: the people of Timisoara broke the barrier two years ago, and it is really time for the Europeans to break the barrier too. This is the Schengen barrier, which is simply not suitable for modern Europe,” said the mayor of Timisoara Dominik Fritz on the air of the Austrian TV channel.

He also said that Romania is not on the Balkan migration path and if there are problems, “perhaps they should be discussed with Greece”, which is part of the Schengen area.

• “Of course, it is necessary to find solutions to the challenges of migration policy.
• But the solution cannot be to deny millions of Europeans equal access to the EU. Because Romanians and Bulgarians are not second-class European citizens. These two topics have nothing to do with each other,” the mayor of Timisoara also stated.