Our country's accession to Schengen - an uncomfortable topic for ministers Predoiu and Karner

There is no change in the position of the government in Vienna regarding our country's accession to the Schengen area is the main conclusion of yesterday's meeting, in Austria, between the Minister of the Interior Cătălin Predoiu and his Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner. During the official statements, the two refrained from talking about a term in which our country's accession to Schengen could be voted on in the JAI Council and limited themselves to presenting the collaboration between the two ministries and the progress made by our country in combating migration illegal from third countries in the European Union.

"I had a very good discussion with my counterpart. My objective was to turn a page and start a road of construction. I presented all the progress made by Romania. I told the minister that we will make progress and I do not hide that our ambition as a ministry is to make Romania a standard model for protecting the borders of the European Union. Illegal migration is a serious topic, we take it very seriously in Romania and we are ready to cooperate with the EU states and have good results, as we have with Austria. We will also take further action on the ground and in terms of optimizing the EU asylum legislative framework and procedures. We signed an agreement by which we simplify today's procedures, an agreement by which we lay the first stone on the foundation of a solid partnership, which will lead us to reach the interests of each country", said Cătălin Predoiu, Minister of Internal Affairs.

For his part, Gerhard Karner said: "This discussion is a logical consequence of the meetings so far. Previously, I was in Bucharest, where I discussed with Mr. Predoiu's predecessor about police cooperation in this area of cross-border migration. In April, I signed with Lucian Bode an action plan in the field of crime related to migrant traffickers. It was a very important moment, starting a cooperation. In April, it was also agreed that Hungary, Romania and Serbia would intervene with joint patrols. It is also the basis from which we started in today's discussions. Several measures have been established to combat cross-border crime. This cross-border collaboration also has special results. 36 searches were carried out in Romania, Hungary and Austria, and six people were arrested, which shows that this agreement brings results. We want to promote this cooperation on the European level as well, for securing the external borders of the EU, for asylum procedures and police measures".

Austria's interior minister also pointed out that the entire Schengen system does not work and therefore opposes its extension for the time being, an extension which the government in Vienna considers inopportune.

Regarding the issue of Austria's veto regarding the extension of the Schengen area, Cătălin Predoiu stated: "Austria does not have a problem with Romania, the Romanian police are doing their job and we are ready to continue this work together. We will support Austria, the EU and member states to reform asylum procedures. It is work that we are starting and I am confident that we will continue until we reach an outcome within a reasonable time frame. (...) My role is to make sure that the police system performs and there is progress on all projects with Austria".

As you can see in the statements of the two interior ministers, there is currently no horizon of hope regarding Romania's accession to the Schengen area, but the focus is on combating illegal migration, i.e. on the issue falsely waved at our country by the authorities from Vienna.