Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijarto, who was in Timisoara on Friday, “politely invited” Austrian officials to stop blocking Romania’s entry into the Schengen area this fall. We will remind you that the Chancellor and the Minister of Internal Affairs of Austria recently stated that Vienna still opposes the admission of Romania to the European free movement zone.

This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary Peter Szijjártó in Timisoara at a press conference together with the Minister of Transport Sorin Grindeanu.

(From 17 minutes)

• “I would like to politely invite, not to say urge, not to block our Austrian friends again this fall and agree to the accession of our Romanian friends to the Schengen zone.
• Hungary’s national interest is for Romania to join the Schengen area this year. From now on, we will have ten new border crossing points, and we should have no waiting time at the border between the two countries,” said Peter Sijarto.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary noted that Romania is the third most important export market for Hungary, “the preferred place of investment for Hungarian capital”, and national communities live and live on the territory of the two countries.

“Now is the time not to disturb the communication between the two countries through the checkpoints. We hope that this fall’s decision on Romania’s accession to Schengen will be based on real facts,” added Peter Sijarto.

Hungarian officials have repeatedly expressed their support for Romania joining Schengen. “We believe that Romania should have already been part of the Schengen area, but a series of lies and false statements were spread that prevented Romania’s access to the Schengen area. I don’t think we can talk about illegal migration or the pressure of illegal migration when it comes to Romania, and I don’t think this is a reason for Romania not to join the Schengen area,” Hungary’s foreign minister said in May. , in Oradea.

Minister of Internal Affairs of Austria: “Now it is not advisable to expand the Schengen zone”

Vienna does not give up and continues to keep Romania at the door of Schengen. “Austria’s position is clear: the entire Schengen system does not work, so we are not open to its expansion,” Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said on August 23. He made these statements at the end of a conversation with the Minister of the Interior of Romania, Catalin Preda, who visited Vienna.

The Austrian official’s message was “very clear”: Austria does not support the extension of the Schengen area, further stating that “the system as a whole does not work”.

Asked if Austria would change its position before the fall parliamentary elections, Gerhard Karner said Vienna’s veto had “nothing to do” with the election: “We are responsible for guaranteeing the safety of the population, and it is not about parliamentary elections.”

“It is important to continue our work, and one day we will also achieve a result”, – said, for his part, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Romania, Catalin Predou.

Predoiu also said that “Austria has no problems with Romania”: “The Romanian police is doing its job and we are ready to continue this work together. We will support Austria, the EU and member states to reform asylum procedures.”

The interior minister also said that he traveled to Vienna to check if there were any complaints related to the way Romania defends its borders and that he was “pleased” to note that “Austria also sees these successes achieved by Romania, on all issues. programs that have them” to strengthen border security.

On August 18, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer also stated at a press conference with Olaf Scholz that Vienna is still determined to block the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen zone, Austrian media reported. A year and a half after taking office, the German Chancellor made his first official visit to Austria on August 18.

Regarding Austria’s attempt to block the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the European free movement area, the Austrian chancellor said at a joint press conference with the German chancellor that “now, for the first time, in the European Union more considering the great migration challenges of Bulgaria due to its particularly long border with Turkey”. – Volksblat and Die Presse write.

However, Karl Nehhammer noted that this does not mean that Austria will change its position on blocking Romania and Bulgaria in Schengen.

For his part, Olaf Scholz confirmed Germany’s position on supporting the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the European free movement zone.