PSD MEP Victor Negrescu supports Romania joining the Schengen zone by air transport, this is an advantage for our country and the first step in the process of fully joining the free movement zone.

The Romanian MEP stated at the plenary session of the European Parliament that joining Air Schengen has three important advantages:

• “Citizens of Romania will be able to move more easily in other Schengen countries, getting the right they deserve. This means that Romanians from the diaspora can more easily return home by plane, using the many existing airports in Romania, many of which are in the process of expansion and modernization.
• “Romania will be able to more easily transport essential products to the Schengen area by air transport. This applies to the transport of medicines, emergency transport, transport of sensitive technical equipment, transport of parcels or logistical transport with a civil-military component.
• our country will become more attractive for investments, foreign investors and tourists. They will be able to travel faster and will be able to better connect their branches in Romania with branches in other Schengen countries.”

“After almost 13 years of waiting, the changes that many thought were impossible have finally happened.

A hard-earned step forward, a right of Romanians that no one can and should not question,” Negrescu said.

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said on Monday that he presented the European Commission with “clear conditions” that must be met before Vienna agrees to accept Romania and Bulgaria into the so-called “Air Schengen”, APA reported.

“Now it’s the Commission’s turn,” Karner told Ö1’s morning magazine after learning at the weekend of a possible easing of Austria’s veto on Romania and Bulgaria’s entry into the Schengen area with the abolition of air borders.

“It’s about the fact that we need progress in the field of protection of the EU’s external borders,” Karner emphasized.

In particular, he asks the Commission to triple the number of border police officers, reports Agerpres.

Also, the Commission should allocate funds for border protection infrastructure. First of all, technical modernization of the Bulgarian-Turkish and Romanian-Serbian borders is necessary.

In addition, Carner is calling for stronger land border controls and for Romania and Bulgaria to take in asylum seekers, especially Afghans and Syrians.

Karner motivated the request to support border control by “the problem of human trafficking.” Of the slightly more than 50,000 asylum seekers in Austria, only around 150 migrants made it through the airports, the interior minister explained.

Prime Minister Marcel Çolaku announced on Saturday evening that Austria “has made its position more flexible with regard to the Schengen area and agrees to the abolition of air borders for Romania”. “This means that Romanians will no longer stand in endless queues when flying within the European Union,” he explained.

Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu on Sunday did not give a timetable for Romania joining the air Schengen, but said that “he hopes that Romanians will enjoy the holidays”. Asked if he agreed with the conditions put forward by Austria, Predoi said “there are conditions that I know and we are going to discuss them” and “some of them are also useful for us to strengthen the border”.

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