According to the Austrian Minister of Social Affairs, Health, Health and Consumer Protection, Johannes Rauch, Romania’s accession to Schengen will bring benefits for both Austria and Romania and will bring benefits to many companies.

“Both Austria and Romania will benefit from Romania’s accession to Schengen. This would be an advantage for many companies and would also be a big relief for the 30,000 caregivers who work 24 hours a day and on whom thousands of families in Austria depend,” wrote Johannes Rauch on “X”, the former Twitter social network. .

On Tuesday, she met with the Minister of Labor and Social Solidarity of Romania, Simona Bucura-Oprescu.

The comments by Rausch, a member of Austria’s Green Party, which co-rules with Carl Nehhammer’s conservatives, come as HotNews.ro sources say Romania will not be accepted into the Schengen zone even before the end of this year.

Elections in the Netherlands further complicated Romania’s entry into Schengen

The accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area is on the agenda of the JAI Council on 4-5 December, exactly as it has been on the JAI agenda since December 2022, when Bucharest was blocked by Vienna.

However, government sources say there will be no vote because the Netherlands, where elections have just been held, has not agreed to the accession of Bulgaria, which is part of Romania.

“There will be no vote (at the JAI Board on December 5 – no) and this issue will remain in place until the situation in the Netherlands is clarified. (…) Romanians and Bulgarians, supported by the Spanish, insist that the subject of Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen remain on the agenda,” quoted government sources as saying.

The far-right party of the anti-Islamic populist Geert Wilders became an unexpected winner. Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), has capitalized on the Dutch’s widespread disillusionment with migration by promising to “close the borders” and backtracking on his pledge to ban the Koran, the BBC reports.

The President of Austria expressed disagreement with his government regarding the blockade of Romania

Johannes Rauch is the second high-ranking Austrian official to express reservations about the decision by Karl Nehammer’s cabinet to block Romania’s entry into Schengen.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, whose role is formal, recently said the federal government’s decision to block Romania and Bulgaria from joining Schengen was a mistake and he hoped “one day it will be reconsidered”.

“When the federal government of Austria said “no” to the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen zone, I, as president, did not agree with this decision. I don’t see any reason to block Romania and Bulgaria in Schengen, given that the system doesn’t work anyway,” he said at a press conference held on November 16 in Chisinau.

“The question is huge, and one of the questions will be how to control the flow of people who are either looking for work or asylum in one of the countries. However, in my opinion, this has nothing to do with Schengen,” the Austrian president continued.

“I believe that the decision of the federal government of Austria was wrong and I hope that one day this decision will be reviewed. For several months, I had discussions with the presidents of Romania and Bulgaria, but I have no executive power. I repeat, this decision was not correct,” said Alexander van der Bellen.