European Parliament asks the Council to approve the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area by the end of 2023
The European Parliament has voted an extremely harsh resolution against Austria for refusing to grant Romania and Bulgaria the right to join the Schengen area. The document calls for Austria to be taken to court for what it calls "discrimination against Romanians" and for the massive financial losses caused to the two countries.
The resolution, adopted by 526 votes to 57 with 42 abstentions, has no legal force but sends a political signal that Romania's rejection of Schengen membership is "discriminatory", calling on the European Commission to take Austria to the EU Court of Justice.
Furthermore, the resolution points out that Austria's veto in December 2022 has created anti-European sentiment and caused major damage to both the Romanian and Bulgarian economies, as well as to the climate, given the massive pollution at the borders where millions of cars wait for hours for checks.
MEPs also call on the Council to approve the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen free movement area by the end of 2023. The European Parliament has adopted four other resolutions calling for Romania and Bulgaria to join Schengen. This time too, the resolution points out that citizens from Bulgaria and Romania are discriminated against because they face delays, bureaucratic difficulties and additional costs when travelling or doing business abroad, compared to their counterparts in the Schengen area, the text states, notes G4media.ro.
It should be recalled that currently all EU member states except Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania are part of the Schengen free movement area, which also includes the non-EU states Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The European Commission has assessed that Bulgaria and Romania are ready to join Schengen, and the European Parliament has repeatedly supported their accession, most recently in a resolution on 5 October 2022 and a debate on 14 December 2022.
