Austria remains staunchly opposed to Romania and Bulgaria joining Schengen, arguing that “before Europe’s free movement area gets bigger, it needs to get better,” writes Euronews. The latest warning was issued by Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner on Tuesday before a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels.

It will be recalled that at the meeting of EU interior ministers on Tuesday, there will no longer be a vote on Romania’s accession to Schengen, as it was stated in the initial agenda.

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“I can’t imagine any change right now”

• “Schengen should become better, not bigger.
• I don’t see much progress yet, so I can’t imagine any changes at the moment,” said Gerhard Karner, Austria’s federal interior minister, according to Euronews.

According to Karner, the amount of border controls that European countries have implemented in recent months is a good enough reason to stop further expansion of the Schengen area, which currently includes 27 countries, including 23 EU member states and more than 423 million citizens. . .

Under the Schengen system, countries are allowed to establish temporary border controls as a last resort in exceptional circumstances. The governments of Austria, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy and Denmark have applied this provision to cope with the constant increase in migration flows, Euronews comments.

• “It is important that the European Commission finally invests heavily in external border protection and takes action to make these external borders more secure. This is ultimately what makes the Schengen system work,” said Karner, a member of the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP), which defends a tough stance on migration.

There is no indication of a change of attitude on the part of Austria

The fact that Austria did not change its position forced Spain, which presides over the EU Council, to change the agenda of the JAI Council meeting, notes Euronews. Spain previously announced that the December 5 meeting would include a binding vote on the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen agreement, which have been waiting since they joined the EU in 2007.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasca said his country would continue “intense” work on the subject “until the end of his country’s presidency,” which ends at the end of this year. This may indicate that the subject of Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen will still be decided this year, notes Euronews.

“A stronger Europe is a Europe with Romania and Bulgaria as full Schengen members,” Grande-Marlasca said.

However, accepting new Schengen members requires a green light from all member states, and as Karner himself said on Tuesday, there is no sign of a change in Austria’s attitude. The Netherlands also opposes Bulgaria’s accession due to rule of law issues, but this position is seen as somewhat more flexible than Austria’s veto. However, the Netherlands is undergoing a power transition after the surprise victory of Geert Wilders’ far-right party last month in an election dominated by the issue of illegal migration.

“Schengen must be fixed”

It will be recalled that the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen was blocked by Austria and the Netherlands at the JAI Council in December 2022. Bucharest was supported by 26 EU countries, but blocked by Austria.

On October 24, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehhammer called the expansion of the Schengen zone currently “unbelievable” for his country, but argued that this position had nothing to do with Bulgaria and Romania and was imposed by a security concern.

Nehammer spoke to reporters after meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, who was on a one-day visit to Vienna, hoping to change the position of Austria, which opposes the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen zone, BTA reported, citing Agerpres. Both had a face-to-face meeting, after which bilateral discussions took place with the participation of the Bulgarian delegation, which included Minister of Internal Affairs Kalin Stoyanov and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Olena Shekerletova.

“Schengen must be fixed. Until this is fixed, we cannot expand it,” Nehhammer insisted. He stressed that the EU’s foreign ministers themselves say that the Schengen system is not working. More and more countries are introducing border controls, which means that the Schengen system is not up to par. According to him, 75% of migrants intercepted in Austria are not registered, which is a security problem.