“Bulgaria is not “biting the poison apple” of Austria regarding Schengen. The message is clear for Romania as well,” writes Newsweek.ro. Bulgarian Minister of the Interior Kalin Stoyanov sent a strong message to his colleagues from Austria and Romania during the Salzburg Forum, which was held in Kran, Slovenia, the colleagues continued. In the extensive commentary on the events of the last few days, the media also explains why Bulgaria can “block” Romania’s entry into Schengen, as well as who is lobbying for their country. “Focus” presents Newsweek’s analysis without editorial intervention.
According to official statements, Bulgaria will only support “full” accession to the Schengen area, and not only for air transport, as Austria wants.
Bulgaria has made it clear to both Austria and Romania that it will not accept additional conditions, such as accepting additional migrants, in order to become a member of the Schengen area. In addition, the Bulgarian minister insists that his country enters the free movement zone with its land borders, because this is what facilitates the business zone in the first place.
Stoyanov again drew Austria’s attention to the fact that both Bulgaria and Romania meet all the necessary criteria for Schengen accession, like all other member countries, and the recent assessment mission carried out by experts from member countries, including Austria and the Netherlands, confirmed this fact.
“We will not accept additional conditions”
“We will see where the border between acceptable and unacceptable conditions for Schengen will be in the coming days and week. We will not accept additional conditions that do not meet what is expected from other countries,” Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said for his part.
In connection with the blocking of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen, the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior emphasized the constant efforts of its country to fight illegal human trafficking and supports the recent legislative initiatives of the European Commission to strengthen the role of Europol and harmonize sanctions for people traffic.
We recall that at the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JAI) in December 2022, the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen was blocked by Austria and the Netherlands, despite the support of 26 EU member states for this extension, and on December 4-6 In 2023, the extension of Schengen was only discussed, but without a vote in this regard.
The US, the “hard nut” behind the “wind of change” in Vienna. Germany and Spain “closed the door” on Austria
In recent weeks, Austria has radically changed its position and announced that it can accept Bulgaria and Romania in Schengen under certain conditions.
The Austrian publication Der Standard notes that the change in Vienna’s attitude in favor of Romania’s accession to Schengen was influenced by the strategic partner from Washington.
Der Standard claims that this change of position would be in the interest of Austrian companies, which are losing significant money due to waiting times at borders.
The Austrian edition noted the fact that Romania is an important ally of the US in Eastern Europe, and the change in Vienna’s attitude could also be influenced by talks with the former US ambassador to Europe Ronald Lauder and the diplomat in charge of Europe, James O’Brien.
The Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, admitted that behind the “wind of change” in Vienna was the intervention of the Americans in the first place, but the pressure was also supplemented by Germany and Spain.
“They helped us. Chancellor Olaf Scholz helped us, Germany helped us and the Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez helped us. And the administration of the United States helped us a lot, got involved in these efforts and for this injustice that affected Romania”, commented Cholaku.
Gerhard Karner wants “Air Schengen” for Romania and Bulgaria
Austrian Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner stated that Austria has presented the European Commission with clear conditions for the approval of “Air Schengen”.
These include tripling the number of border police officers, allocating funds for border security infrastructure and technical modernization of the Bulgarian-Turkish and Romanian-Serbian borders.
He also called for increased land border controls and acceptance of asylum seekers, especially Afghans and Syrians, from Romania and Bulgaria. Austria believes that significant progress is needed in the protection of the EU’s external borders before the two countries can be approved to join Air Schengen.
The “additional” claims of the Austrians were met with hostility and reservation in Bulgaria, but were quickly “passed over” in Bucharest. Romania, through the voice of Predoiu, explained that Vienna’s request regarding the “taking over of asylum seekers from Austria” referred to compliance with the current procedures.
“In reality, it is about proceeding with the repatriation of those illegal migrants who entered through Romania, were registered in Romania, in the EURODAC system or in the Schengen Information System (SIS) and then migrated illegally to Austria.
According to the current Dublin Agreement, once they are caught in Austria and found to be in a state of illegal migration, in accordance with the rules in force, they are sent back to the country they came from, i.e. Romania. This is not a different procedure,” explained Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu.
The Romanian Prime Minister stressed that the strengthening of the country’s borders is a process that must continue.
“Yes, we need to strengthen our borders. We have a European program agreed with the President of the European Commission of 1.2 billion euros to strengthen the borders with Ukraine. This is the largest project financed by the European Union. Consolidation of the border with the Republic of Moldova . We have a longer border with a country in conflict in Europe. We have to accept these things,” Cholaku said.
How Bulgaria can “block” Romania’s entry into Schengen
At the end of the week, a vote is expected in the parliament in The Hague. The Netherlands already blocks only Bulgaria, and a change in its position is essential for Sofia and Bucharest to continue on the path to joining the Schengen area for free movement.
In addition, if Bulgaria refuses Austria’s “offer”, Romania will not be able to join Schengen either, since both countries are taken “in a package” in this endeavor.
Romania expects to fully enter Schengen next year
“Romania expects that after this year’s negotiations, a precise timetable for joining Schengen will be drawn up in two stages – respectively with airports from March 2024 and land borders at the end of 2024, during the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU,” said the Prime Minister Minister Marcel Cholaku.
2023-12-13 20:07:21
#Bulgaria
