NLP MEP Siegfried Muresan said on Wednesday that Romania’s chances of joining Schengen and land borders will increase if Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer loses the Austrian election.

• “Frankly, the best way for Romania, which already meets all the criteria to join the Schengen area, is to lose the next election in Austria to Karl Nehammer. I’m telling you honestly, I think I’m saying this publicly in a public space in Romania, but this is the best way for us,” MEP Siegfried Muresan said on Prima News’ România Politică show, News.ro reported. .

He clarified that at the EPP Congress, the PNL had a goal and proposed that the EPP election program should include the EPP’s commitment to support the full accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen zone as soon as possible.

• “This is very important, because it is, in fact, the EU’s guiding program for the next five years, and we wanted the future president of the European Commission to take on this commitment, so that immediately after the elections they would help us with this last one. stage. We, the PNL, demanded the exact formula requested by President Klaus Iohannis at the EP plenary in early February. We convinced everyone, the Austrian delegation initially intended to vote against this election program, after which on the day of the vote it announced that it would no longer vote against it and would abstain in principle,” said Siegfried Muresan.

The MEP clarified that when it came to the voting procedure, the president of the EPP announced who was “for” and who was “against”, and no one raised their hands, so he concluded that it was unanimity.

Siegfried Muresan said that the negotiations will be resumed after our country joins Schengen with airports and a sea border on March 31, and if Nehammer continues to refuse, “we expect Nehammer to lose the elections in October-November.”

• “I am convinced that this first stage will provide all the arguments for the Austrian side to understand that people seeking asylum do not go to Austria from Romania. In addition, then it will be seen that the accession of Romania to the airports makes the Schengen area safer, not less safe. We will resume negotiations, try to find the first window of opportunity, as we found it in December. If we don’t find it with this government, we expect Nehammer to lose the elections in Austria in October-November, and we will resume negotiations,” the NLP MEP also said.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehhammer said at the beginning of March in Bucharest at the European People’s Party Congress that “Austria’s position remains clear and unchanged: the Schengen system is currently not working, so it cannot be extended.”

In fact, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner insisted that he must first see how Romania and Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen, with an air and sea border, goes from March 31, and only then will he think about the next step, land border access: “Anything else is counterproductive.”

• The President of the European Parliament on Romania’s accession to Schengen: Last night, when I was handing in my passport upon arrival, I remembered that this is the frustration that every Romanian goes through / This is discrimination

Romania and Bulgaria are in Schengen from March 31 only with an air and sea border

At the end of December, the EU Council announced that Romania and Bulgaria will join Schengen with an air and sea border on March 31, 2024.

The authorities in Bucharest tried to introduce a specific date for the lifting of land border controls during the talks in December 2023, but all they got was a promise of talks. The year-end declaration signed by the three countries, attached to the EU Council’s communication, mentions a “commitment to discuss in 2024 a date for the possible abolition of land border controls”.

This, however, depends on 5 measures leading to a “significant improvement of the migration situation in Austria”, additional measures that have not been applied in the case of any other Schengen acceding country.

Still depends on Austria, decisions are taken unanimously. This, by the way, is stated in the decision of the Council of the EU, published in the Official Journal of the Union: “The Council is making efforts to adopt a decision on the abolition of control over people at the internal land borders. The relevant decision is taken by the Council unanimously in accordance with paragraph (2) of Article 4 of the Act of Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania from 2005.”

What can be the probable date of land integration, and most importantly, of Romania to Schengen? At this point, it can most likely be adopted by the end of this year, and actual integration could take place in 2025. This is due to the European electoral context this year and the fact that internal elections are taking place in Austria. autumn, it is unlikely that Vienna’s position will change by then.

Read also:

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• Manfred Weber: Austria’s challenge is before us. EPP supports the immediate accession of Romania to Schengen
• A surprise at the PPE congress in Bucharest. The Austrian delegation did NOT vote against the manifesto supporting the full integration of Romania into Schengen