The government will attack at the CJEU a new veto of Austria regarding the accession to the Schengen area

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stated, in an interview given to the Austrian daily Der Standard at the end of last week, that the Government will appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union a new negative vote by Austria regarding Romania's accession to the Schengen area.

Asked by Austrian journalists about the initiation of such an approach, Marcel Ciolacu said: "Definitely, yes" and stated that the damage caused to Romania by not joining the Schengen area amounts to 2% of the Gross Domestic Product.

The quoted source also notes that the head of the government called for a total ban on the import of Russian gas into the EU, "because there is a very big difference between what we are losing, namely a little comfort, and what is happening in Ukraine." Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu agreed with the recent statement of the representative in Vienna of the EU Commission, Martin Selmayr, according to which Austria pays "money stained with blood" to Moscow through gas imports. "What Mr. Selmayr says is true," said Marcel Ciolacu, according to the cited source.

The Austrian press recalls that MEPs Eugen Tomac and Vlad Botoş previously requested the European Commission, in a letter addressed to the representative responsible for EU sanctions against Russia, David O'Sullivan, to open an investigation into Austria's compliance with the sanctions.

"Simply criticizing Austria is no longer enough. Vienna's policy casts a shadow over the EU's ability to deal with conflicts and crises in a coordinated manner. Austria's lack of solidarity with the European cause shows the loyalty of the political decision-makers and its companies," the letter of the two Romanian parliamentarians says. The statements of the two Romanian parliamentarians regarding the violation of Russian sanctions were criticized, according to the cited source, by Angelika Winzig , leader of the ÖVP (Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer's party) delegation in the European Parliament: "The statements are far from objective and should be rejected in the strongest possible terms. Above all, we must push for strong external border protection and implement an effective European pact on asylum and migration in the interests of all member states. Then we can also think about expanding the Schengen area. Austria's veto regarding the expansion is not directed against Romanian citizens".

Journalists from Austria also note that European deputy Dacian Cioloş, former prime minister and former European Commissioner for Agriculture, asked President Klaus Johannis, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and President of the Senate Nicolae Ciucă to immediately change their position at the level of the EU Council regarding to Austria's veto regarding Romania's accession to the Schengen area. Cioloş said Romania must now behave "as inflexibly as Austria" and, with the exception of additional support for Ukraine, block all EU decisions that require unanimity until the Justice and Home Affairs Council gives the green light for the country's accession our Schengen.

While Romania has long since met the technical conditions for Schengen accession, Austria's Schengen blockade is "as unjustified as it is illegal", said Dacian Cioloş. He noted that, from December 2022 until now, the Romanian authorities have done everything in their power to dispel the unfounded concerns of the Austrian federal government, but in vain, which proves once again that Vienna's veto is "exclusively motivated political" and that Austria "obstructs the proper functioning of the European Union as a whole".

For his part, MEP Rareş Bogdan accused the EU authorities of incompetence, stating that neither the Commission nor the Council apparently managed to "prevent Chancellor (Karl) Nehammer from humiliating an EU state and its 25 million citizens his". Rareş Bogdan also said that Karl Nehammer, through Austria's veto, humiliates "not only Romania and the Romanians, but also the European system as a whole".

We remind you that the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, requested last week, in the State of the European Union speech, that Romania and Bulgaria join Schengen "without delay", because both countries have proven that they meet the necessary conditions. Ms. von der Leyen's request concerns Austria, which opposed the accession of the two states on December 8, 2022, but the president of the European Commission did not name that country in his speech.

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner reacted, according to the quoted source, with caution to Ursula von der Leyen's statement claiming that the fight against illegal migration and smugglers must be a priority of the European Commission: "At this moment, it does not make sense for me to I'm talking about the extension of the Schengen area. We need more controls, not less".