MEP Eugen Tomak on Tuesday asked the European Commission to refer the EU Council to the European Court of Justice after Austria’s decision to block Schengen entry. “Austria’s veto should be canceled in the Court of the European Union,” said the MEP at the plenary session of the European Parliament.

Court of the EUPhoto: Horst Galuschka / imago stock&people / Profimedia
  • “Today, I officially asked the European Commission to refer the Council of the EU to the Court of Justice of the European Union in order to protect the principles and values ​​set out in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
  • Romania and its citizens violate the fundamental rights of the European Union: freedom of movement of people and freedom of movement of goods. Therefore, the European Commission is obliged to act in order to apply the letter and spirit of the law,” says Eugene Tomak.

According to MEP Siegfried Muresan, the issue of last week’s JAI Council and Austria’s veto against Romania’s accession to Schengen were added to the agenda of the European Parliament’s plenary session on Tuesday from Strasbourg. The PNL MEP stated that “the proposal for the debate came from the three largest political groups in the European Parliament: the EPP group, the Socialists and the RENEW group”. The debate will take place around 19.00.

We will remind you that Romania, which waited 11 years to join Schengen, this time did not enter the European free movement zone, although it had the support of 26 EU countries. Austria managed to block a favorable decision in the JAI Council on Thursday, as Schengen entry requires unanimity. It was joined by the Netherlands, on the condition that they oppose the accession of Bulgaria, and the vote was cast “together with Romania”.

Both Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehhammer and Interior Minister Gerhard Karner claimed that of the more than 100,000 immigrants or asylum seekers who arrived in Austria, 75,000 were not registered anywhere and must have happened at a border outside the EU. They claimed that many of the unregistered arrived via Romania or Bulgaria, contradicting the Romanian authorities.