There is a significant majority in the European Parliament that supports Romania’s accession to the Schengen zone, said EP Vice-President Katarina Barli, who added that Austria’s reasons for opposition are baseless. Although Barli considers this country’s attitude “ridiculous”, the solution he offers Romania is that “if there is a conservative party in our country”, “it should put pressure on its Austrian colleagues”.

• “Related to Schengen. This decision is shameful and everyone in Europe knows it. In the European Parliament, we have a significant majority in favor of Romania’s accession to Schengen. We understand that very clearly. What can we do? In the European Parliament, all we can do is encourage Austria to change its position, and that is what we have done. It won’t help much because we don’t have the strength to put pressure on them. So, I would suggest, given that you have a conservative party in Romania, that they put pressure on their Austrian counterparts, as there is no reason for them to oppose accession. Since 2011, Romania meets all the criteria for joining Schengen. Thus, for 12 years, and the arguments offered by Austria have no meaning, diplomatically speaking. So it’s a purely political decision and the only thing that would change is the pressure on the Austrian government,” Katarina Barli said when asked on Saturday at a conference organized by PES Romania and PSD activists how the topic should be. on the European agenda for Austria to vote for Schengen accession, News.ro reports.

The vice-president of the European Parliament added that she can only guess why Austria acts in this way.

• “I can only guess why they do it. There are probably internal reasons why Austria is doing this,” Barley added.

She also said that EPP group leader Manfred Webber, and not just the Social Democrats, should put pressure on the Austrian government to change its position on Romania’s entry into Schengen.

• “We also need to appeal to Manfred Webber and the EPP group, because they have an obligation to put pressure on Austria to change this very ridiculous attitude. The European Parliament and the European Social Democrats strongly support this accession of Romania,” Katarina Barli concluded.

From July 1 to December 31, Spain took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union and detailed its four priority directions. The extended version of the presidency program includes, among other things, the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area.

Iohannis: Romania’s accession to Schengen is on the agenda of the EU Council only when there is no more possibility of failure

President Klaus Iohannis admits that progress towards joining the Schengen area this year is “slow”, but on a somewhat optimistic note, “but there is progress”.

“Many people pick up on this topic to educate themselves. Progress, so to speak, is slow, but there is progress. Do not imagine that there are discussions only between us and the Austrians or between the Bulgarians and the Dutch, these are broad discussions at the European level,” the head of state said on Thursday.

President Iohannis clarified that putting the issue of Romania’s accession to Schengen on the agenda of the JAI Council will be done when there is no longer any possibility of failure.

“Everyone should understand that when this appears on the official agenda of the JAI, it should be well prepared so that it does not become another failure,” he said.

Romania and Bulgaria failed to join the Schengen area at the Jai Council last December. Austria and the Netherlands blocked access to Romania and Bulgaria, respectively.

Recently, a committee of the European Parliament asked the Council of the EU to approve the admission of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area of ​​free movement by the end of this year, stressing that the two states continue to meet the accession criteria and that their refusal has created anti-European sentiments and harmed the economy and the environment, according to the press- the release published on the website of the EU legislative body.

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Olaf Scholz: We support Romania becoming a full member of the Schengen area this year / Colaku: We discussed how we can overcome this unjustified blockade