Justice and Home Affairs Council of the EU will decide today on Romania's accession to Schengen
The Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) of the EU is to decide today on the accession of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia to the Schengen Area, a subject that has caused debates in the last few days within the European community.
The Minister of the Interior of Romania, Lucian Bode, stated this morning, before attending the JHA Council, that his mandate is to request a debate and vote for Romania's accession to the Schengen area, and any compromise in the interest of his country will be accepted. Lucian Bode also said that he is confident in a positive result for Romania and the lifting of border controls from January 1, 2023. If there are no objections for Croatia regarding Schengen accession, Austria still opposes Romania and Bulgaria. Chancellor Karl Nehammer declared yesterday in a press conference that Austria is in favor of postponing a decision on the accession of Romania and Bulgaria until March next year. According to him, the accession of the two states to the Schengen Area is not a political one, but a matter of security, because of immigrants. MEP Siegfried Mureșan stated in an interview for TVR that Romania was open and worked closely with the European institutions to obtain the vote on the country's accession to Schengen, and continues to convince the partners in Vienna not to oppose this important decision and for European Union. "We use all communication channels to convince our partners in Austria that Romania meets all the conditions, which has been repeatedly confirmed by the European Commission, and to discuss Austria's specific problems, because Austria also has reservations that have nothing to do with Romania . They have the migration crisis, they have a large number of refugees, but who do not come from Romania, they do not come through Romania, and it would be fair that our accession to Schengen suffers from the internal situations". Prime Minister of Romania, Nicolae Ciucă, last night had a telephone conversation with the Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer, through which he informed him about maintaining Romania's position of asking for a vote in today's meeting of the Council of Justice and Internal Affairs of the EU for the country's accession to Schengen , despite Austria's opposition. A decision on the extension of the Schengen area can be taken with the unanimity of the member states that are part of the free movement area.
