Nicolae Cuke says that Romania’s rejection of Schengen because of the veto power used by Austria is an unfair decision, but there will be no calls for a boycott of the government, and everything will be done only through diplomatic channels.

“We will discuss only diplomatically. The government will not make another appeal to Austria. Of course, each citizen may have a different position. As for state-owned companies, no decision on a boycott was made at the central level,” said the prime minister.

Chuke also referred to figures provided by the Austrian chancellor, which claims that 20,000 emigrants have arrived in Austria via Romania, saying that these claims have no basis and that there are no such official figures.

He assures that Romania will continue to maintain relations with all European partners in order to gain entry into Schengen.

Nicolae Chuke was asked on Thursday evening if he was considering closing his Austrian bank account and he replied: “To do this operation, I have to have time to get to the bank. By this time, I did not even have time to return home.”

When asked if he was going to do it, the Prime Minister said that he would have to make a decision. Previously, Nicolae Chuke said that the decision to boycott some Austrian companies depends on each Romanian, they respect this decision, but it is not something established at the level of state-owned companies.

We remind you that Romania, which has been waiting for 11 years to join Schengen, has not entered the European free movement zone this time. 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”. While Romania and Bulgaria remained outside Schengen, Croatia was admitted in a vote held on Thursday in the JCC Council, so that the country will enter Schengen from January 1, 2023.

Austria has named a large number of illegal migrants arriving in this country, one of the routes is Romania, data denied by the authorities in Bucharest.

Inflation in 2022 will not exceed 13%

Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke commented Thursday evening on the almost 17% inflation announced by the INS for January, and clarified that this is only a comparative figure with November 2021. Inflation will not exceed 13% in 2022,” the prime minister said, according to News.ro.

Nicolae Chuke was asked on Thursday evening about the 17% inflation announced by the INS, and he clarified that the percentage refers to a comparison with November 2021.

“From the analysis I did when I got these numbers, it was very clear that year-end inflation in 2022 would not exceed 13%. This is only a comparative figure of inflation in 2022 compared to November 2021,” the prime minister said.

Answering the question when Romanians will pay lower taxes on products, the prime minister said: “We discussed with experts from the Ministry of Finance, with experts from the National Bank of Romania, and we tried to determine the future development until 2023. From the data we received, there is a tendency for inflation to decrease in 2023 and, according to the analysis, it is very likely that it will approach 10%,” the Prime Minister said.

The annual rate of inflation rose in November compared to November 2021 to 16.8%, according to data released on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics. Compared to November 2021, the price of sugar rose the most – by 61.94%, compared to November 2021 – electricity – by 47.19%.

On the same topic:

• Klaus Iohannis on Schengen accession: We are not on the verge of a diplomatic crisis / The President wants full accession in 2023, but he has not received any guarantees