BREAKING Austrian Interior Minister announces opposition to Schengen accession of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia / In January, Minister Bode thanked Austrian minister for „supporting” Schengen accession

Austria will not agree to an expansion of the Schengen area, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced on Friday, as quoted by Kurier and Der Standard. „The system is dysfunctional. The situation in Europe shows very clearly that the protection of external borders has failed,” he said.

The trigger for resistance is the flow of refugees pouring into Central Europe through the Balkans. More than 90,000 migrants have already been apprehended in Austria this year, 75,000 of whom have not been registered in any other EU country, according to the Interior Ministry.

„If a system doesn’t work, it can’t be expanded,” Karner said. Austria is doing this because the security of the people in the country is also at stake, the Austrian official added.

This week, the European Commission came out in favour of extending the Schengen area without controls to include Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. The decisive vote is expected to take place in Brussels on 8 December and unanimity is required. Enlargement will therefore be a hot topic at next week’s special meeting of interior ministers, especially as Croatia is expected to join the Schengen area. However, there will be no special vote for Croatia, as the Czech rotating presidency of the EU Council wants a block vote on accession for the three countries – Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia – only.

So far, only the Dutch government has been reluctant to welcome Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen, the first time an Austrian government official has come out publicly to announce his country’s opposition.

Interior Minister Lucian Bode thanked Austrian Minister Gerhard Karner in January for his support in the Schengen accession process, according to an official statement.

„An important topic of our discussions was the Schengen area, on which occasion we highlighted the fact that Romania is a very important contributor to the European Union’s security architecture. Romania’s priority objective remains accession to the Schengen area, and I thanked my counterpart for his support in adopting a decision to join the Schengen area, which was also reiterated during today’s discussions. Romania has assumed all the obligations arising from the Schengen acquis, but without actually benefiting from these rights”, Lucian Bode wrote on his blog.

The Schengen area includes all EU countries except Bulgaria, Ireland, Croatia, Romania and Cyprus, as well as four non-EU countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Translated article