PMP MEP Eugen Tomac says Romania cannot make a decision on Schengen before January 24, as the next JAI council will be held then. He claims that the earliest our country can implement the entry into Schengen is March 21, when the European Council takes place, and the president has the power to make a decision, with a vote, with which he can block anything in Europe, if our rights are not violated. esteemed. Tomak’s statement comes in the context of Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku saying a day ago that he hopes the negotiations on joining the Schengen area will be completed in two days, with the first stage by air and sea, and the next by a year. joining by land.

Eugene Tomac said on Antena 3 that he does not believe in the scenario in which the negotiations on Romania’s accession to Schengen by sea and air will be completed in two days.

“We cannot make a decision before January 24, the next JAI Council will be held on January 24. And the earliest that Romania can make a decision on the same day and impose entry into Schengen without restrictions and, obviously, sea, land and air at the same time, is the date of March 21, when the European Council will be held. The president has the power to make decisions, a voice with which he can block anything in Europe if our rights are not respected,” Tomak was quoted as saying by News.ro.

The PMP MEP stated that there is a precedent in this regard.

“We blocked the start of negotiations on Serbia’s accession to the EU in 2012, because it did not sign the Agreement on the Protection of Minorities. We blocked the European Council and this decision was postponed in February 2012 because Serbia did not want to recognize the Romanian minority in the Timo Valley. That is why we have this precedent,” he said.

Regarding the conditions put forward by Austria, Eugen Tomak stated that “these are conditions that have nothing to do with what is said in the Treaty and what is said in the Schengen Agreement.”

“They should be rejected from the beginning, and I saw that the government in Sofia was much firmer, they said that we do not accept any additional conditions, because we are not second-class citizens,” Tomak emphasized.

Cholaku hopes that the negotiations will be completed in two days

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Friday that negotiations on Romania’s accession to the air and sea Schengen zone could be completed within the next two days. The Head of Government noted that next year the negotiations on the ground Schengen zone may be completed.

“We hope to conclude in the next two days the negotiations on joining the Schengen area in the first phase, air and naval, and to complete as much of the infrastructure as possible by next year, (…) and to Prepare also for next year when I I also hope to complete the negotiations regarding this time joining the land-based Schengen area,” Çolaku said.

Johannis after discussing Schengen with the Chancellor of Austria: “There is still a lot to agree on”

President Klaus Iohannis says “much more needs to be discussed” before Austria has a favorable position on Romania’s accession to Schengen, but he does not rule out a decision by the end of this year. On Thursday in Brussels, at the invitation of the President of the European Commission, the head of state held a meeting with the Chancellor of Austria and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria on the subject of Schengen.

When asked about Cholaku’s optimism about the decision to join Airways in the first phase, Johannis only commented that “there is still a lot to discuss”.

The head of state did not rule out holding an extraordinary JAI Council before the end of the year, but emphasized that “we still have a lot to work on.”

“Negotiations are moving forward, everyone is very involved, and if a solution suddenly appears, it can be formalized, but until then we still have a lot to work on,” he said.

Conditions of Austria

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said he presented the European Commission with “clear conditions” that must be met before Vienna agrees to admit Romania and Bulgaria to the so-called “Air Schengen”, APA reports.

“Now it’s the Commission’s turn,” Karner told Ö1’s morning magazine after learning at the weekend of a possible easing of Austria’s veto on Romania and Bulgaria’s entry into the Schengen area with the abolition of air borders.

“It’s about the fact that we need progress in the field of protection of the EU’s external borders,” Karner emphasized.

In particular, he asks the Commission to triple the number of border police.

Also, the Commission should allocate funds for border protection infrastructure. First of all, technical modernization of the Bulgarian-Turkish and Romanian-Serbian borders is necessary.

In addition, Carner is calling for stronger land border controls and for Romania and Bulgaria to take in asylum seekers, especially Afghans and Syrians.

Karner motivated the request to support border control by “the problem of human trafficking.” Out of just over 50,000 asylum seekers in Austria, only around 150 migrants made it through the airports, the interior minister explained.