Austria is the last one, which resolutely refuses to give us the key to the Schengen zone, although the Netherlands has softened with regard to the candidacies of Bulgaria and Romania. Vienna is not at all worried about being the sole guardian of the European space without internal borders, reports Sega.bg, as quoted by Rador Radio Romania.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev called on Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov from New York to test his strength where he himself failed – at the gates of Vienna.

Denkov did not remain in debt to Radev and announced the very next day that he was preparing for a visit to Austria on October 4, for which he did not wait for an invitation from the president.

Since the head of state has not said a single good word about the government since its inception, his words of encouragement cannot be taken only as a push for failure. He already knows that the storming of Vienna is doomed to failure.

It would be better for him to tell his Romanian colleague Klaus Iohannis, whom he did not see in New York, because the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, was nearby.

Offended, Romania went head-on with Austria, and Prime Minister Marcel Čolaku even threatened to go to the European Court of Justice, where he would bring the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament together with Romania as parties to the case. process. Such behavior will only increase Vienna’s stubbornness, writes Sega.

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To choose the right approach, it is necessary to understand Austria

She is tempted by a deep-rooted fear that the threat to her comes mainly from the East. His society, living on the historical border between East and West, feels like a watchman at the gates of Europe.

Among the many ups and downs that the country went through in order to transform from the center of the Holy Roman Empire into a modern neutral state comparable in size and population to Bulgaria, two historical events stand out that have continuously influenced current politics – the first and second sieges of Vienna – in 1529 and 1683.

It was there that Suleiman the Magnificent was defeated in his campaign to Central Europe, and 150 years later, the grand vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha, whose skull with a silk rope wrapped around the neck vertebrae, is kept in Vienna.

To understand the Austrians, it is not necessary to be a well-read historian or politician. It is enough to be an attentive tourist to see, if not all 400, then at least a few bright sights of Vienna, which glorify its heroic resistance to the Ottoman Turks. On Am Hof ​​Square, near the fire station gate, hangs a gilded stone cannon from the Turkish artillery that bombarded the city during the second siege. Such cannonballs are built into the walls of some restaurants as souvenirs.

There are also numerous sculptures depicting heroic European warriors trampling on a crescent flag, and a bas-relief depicts the contemptuous Kara Mustafa leaving his camp on a donkey, riding upside down, facing its tail.

The street on which the Turkish embassy is now located is named Prince Eugen (Eugene of Savoy) in memory of the one who dealt the last blow to the Ottoman conquerors in Central Europe. The windows of the diplomats overlook the gardens of the two Belvedere Palaces, built as residences for Prince Eugene with the spoils he captured during his victory over the Ottomans in Zent (now Serbia) in 1697, when he pursued them after their retreat.

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How could Austria be convinced

The gates of Vienna will not be opened, but will be closed even more firmly. It is no coincidence that Austria is the staunchest opponent of Turkey’s accession to the EU, and according to it, accession negotiations with Ankara should be formally completed, even if they have already reached a dead end. The influx of migrants after 2015 reinforced his belief that the road from the southeast should be closed.

She sees it as a continuation of the previous Islamic attack on Europe. Austria was the first to criticize former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open door policy, which allowed more than a million migrants to cross Austrian territory on their way to Germany.

Before that, they used the Balkan route, which is still the most direct route between Turkey and Europe, as it was during the Ottoman Empire. The soldiers who marched from Istanbul to Vienna a few centuries ago first passed through Bulgarian and Wallachian lands, where in 1529 they had to leave their heavy guns behind, mired in mud.

We can pass it off as a historic contribution to the defense of Europe, but it is not enough. Austria expects only one guarantee from us – a safe border with Turkey. Therefore, he raised the issue of European funding for the construction of a stronger wall, which, however, contradicts the principle of the European Commission not to finance obstacles at the border.

Someone has to come up with two billion euros, and the question is who. Brussels does not give, Vienna does not offer, and Bulgaria does not have them. Romanians would rather pay for the construction of a fence in Dobrudja, still using the Danube as a natural barrier, to continue to claim that there is no breakthrough for migrants on their side.

It is cheapest for the Austrians to close, even re-introduce border controls with the Schengen countries (as Italy threatened these days). The European Commission can repeat endlessly that Bulgaria and Romania have fulfilled the technical criteria for Schengen since 2011, but it will not have the last word.

Vienna must believe that our border control is effective, that it is not “riddled” with corruption, like a porous border fence. Ways should be sought for joint European patrols with the participation of Austrian border guards.

Bulgarian-Turkish border and corruption

There is a need for greater transparency regarding what is happening along the Bulgarian-Turkish border, as it is not only national but also European.

The scandal with the Polish consulates, which issued hundreds of thousands of work visas to citizens of non-European countries in exchange for bribes, shows how strong mistrust breeds corruption.

Because of them, Germany threatened to restore control on the border with Poland, despite its membership in Schengen. This scandal may ricochet on Bulgaria and Romania, which until last week were under special European supervision due to high-level corruption.

Everyone in Europe can wonder how well the two Schengen candidates have fared, given that the country they are suspicious of is no longer trustworthy to Schengen.

Austria’s numerous wars with Ottoman Turkey can be compared in number to the Russo-Turkish wars. Interestingly, they ended on Bulgarian soil with the signing of the Treaty of Svishtov in 1791. The house where it happened has been preserved, and a small commemorative plaque has been installed on one of its outer walls. It is located a few meters from the house of the Bulgarian writer Aleko Konstantinov.

Russian Emperor Alexander II (liberator tsar) stayed here in 1877 after the landing of Russian troops in Svishtov. The two houses are connected by a narrow street filled with historical symbols – where the Austrians stop, the Russians continue.

Politics, like nature, also does not tolerate empty space. The “Europe or Russia” competition on Bulgarian soil has not ended, and Vienna must understand that the further the Eastern European defense advances, the safer it will feel. (photo: Mykola Sorokin / Dreamstime.com)

Article by Svetoslav Terziev, SEGA (adapted from Rador Radio Romania)

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