Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasca expressed on Thursday in a meeting with his Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner, an opponent of Romania’s accession to Schengen, his “firm commitment” to unlock the full integration of Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen zone and asked him for the support of the Austrian government in this sense . The meeting took place in the context of the fact that at the end of March, Grande-Marlasca met with Minister Lucian Bode, who conveyed to him that Romania was fully ready to join, expressing the readiness of the Bucharest authorities to act for a “resolution”. this file as soon as possible during this year.”

According to a press release sent by the Spanish government on Thursday, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasca met with Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner in Vienna, during which they discussed priorities for the upcoming Spanish presidency. Council of the European Union, from the second half of this year.

“Among the issues discussed during the meeting, the two ministers touched on the inclusion of Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen area, an issue that the Spanish presidency wants to complete during the second semester,” the report said.

According to the same source, Grande-Marlasca expressed his “firm commitment” to unlocking the full integration of both countries and asked his counterpart for the support of the Austrian government.

“Spain is an advocate of promoting cooperation, not fragmentation,” added Grande-Marlasca, recalling that both Spain and Austria share their status as “destination and transit points for illegal migrants and asylum seekers.”

“The most important goal to complete as soon as possible”

On March 30, after a meeting in Bucharest with Fernando Grande Marlasca Gómez, Interior Minister Lucian Bode wrote that “Spain faces a difficult task as the future presidency of the Council of the European Union, starting in June, and Romania has a goal: the most important thing to be done as soon as possible , – acquiring the status of a participant of the Schengen Agreement”.

“Regarding this issue, I emphasized during the discussions that Romania is fully ready to join the Schengen area, and I conveyed to my colleague Romania’s readiness to work constructively, in the spirit of European values, to resolve this issue as soon as possible. during this year,” Bode said.

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We will remind you that Romania, which has been waiting for more than 11 years to join Schengen, did not join the European Free Movement Zone last year, although it had the support of 26 EU countries.

On December 8, 2022, the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JAI) of the European Union rejected the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen and accepted only Croatia’s request. Austria managed to block a favorable decision for our country in the JAI Council, because unanimity is required for entry into Schengen. It was joined by the Netherlands on the condition that they oppose the accession of Bulgaria, and the vote was cast “together with Romania”.

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