Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Romanian Senate Titus Corlatean said that following the visit of the members of the Committee to Vienna on 26-28 February, the conditions have been created for finalising an agenda for this year aimed at Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, told Agerpres.
In Vienna, the delegation of Romanian MPs from across the political spectrum met with Austrian MPs, the Mayor of Vienna, Michael Ludwig, former Austrian President Heinz Fischer and other officials.
“What is important to know is that the ice has been broken, which was a bit thick, to put it very bluntly. The fact that there were no official contacts of this kind after 8 December was a loss for Romania (…) We can, and we have reasons after these discussions to be confident that contacts at government level can produce results. But we still have work to do. The more time passed, the more complicated things became,” Corlatean told a press conference on Wednesday.
Asked about a date when Romania could be welcomed into Schengen, Corlatean said, “It is not our task to anticipate what the governments of the member states need to discuss with the European institution.”
Referring to the Romania-Bulgaria tandem for Schengen accession, Corlatean said: “We are in favour of respecting European rules and the European Union treaties. If these rules say that the acquis communautaire, in particular related to the Schengen Area, which is verified by the European Commission and if this acquis is fulfilled, regardless of the name of the state, it is right that the decision should observe the provisions of the Treaty. So if Bulgaria has been assessed as meeting these criteria, it is only natural that Bulgaria should join [the Schengen Area, ed.n.]. It would also be a good thing for Romania that it [Bulgaria, ed.n.] should join. (…).”
National Liberal party (PNL) Senator Marcel Vela said that he found that the Viennese MPs did not know that following the verifications in Brussels, before the JHA Council of 8 December 2022, Romania met the accession conditions.
The PNL senator pointed out that he told the officials in Vienna that Austria had created “a dangerous precedent by using the veto against Romania without technical arguments”.
The Romanian senators mentioned that they explained to the officials that the migration flow from the Balkans has nothing to do with Romania.