BREAKING: The Austrian Interior Minister announced his opposition to the expansion of the Schengen Area during a press conference with Cătălin Predoiu. Predoiu stated, „Romania and Austria are friendly nations with shared economic interests

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced on Wednesday in a joint press conference with Cătălin Predoiu that Austria opposes the expansion of the Schengen area.

„Our position is that the Schengen system as a whole is not working, that’s why we are not open to extending it. There are border controls already,” said Gerhard Karner. „It’s a clear signal that the system is not working and I don’t think it’s appropriate to extend it at the moment,” the Austrian official added.

In response, Minister Predoiu said that Romania and Austria are „two friendly countries, partners, with common political interests”, and that he will continue to cooperate with Vienna.

Gerhard Karner:

We had a very constructive discussion and thank you for joining us. Today’s discussion is a logical consequence of the meetings so far. In April we signed an action plan with Bode in the area of crime related to migrant smugglers. It was a decisive moment and the start of cooperation. In April it was agreed that in the triangle Hungary – Romania – Serbia joint patrols would be used and through this pact it is possible that those who exit through Hungary will be followed further into Romania.

Arrangements have been made to send a Romanian officer to the police cooperation centre in Vienna and an Austrian officer to the centre in Oradea. It is very important to take these measures in the fight against cross-border crime.

This cooperation is showing great results. In a joint action, 36 searches were carried out in Romania, Hungary and Austria, 6 people were arrested, which shows that the pact is producing results.

We want this cooperation to be extended to the European level. I thank the Romanian Minister for all the efforts made by the Romanian authorities.

Our position is that the Schengen system as a whole is not working, which is why we are not open to extending it. There are already border controls between Germany and Austria, Germany wants to set up border controls with Poland and the Czech Republic. This is a clear signal that the system is not working and I do not think that expansion is appropriate at this time.

On returns, the Dublin system has shortcomings and needs to be improved.

We are responsible for guaranteeing the security of the population and this is not a matter of parliamentary elections.

Cătălin Predoiu:

I am very honored to be here today in your beautiful capital. Discussions between two friendly countries, partners, with common economic interests. One of my objectives was to turn a page and start building on all the issues of interest.

I presented all the progress Romania has made since we have been working together on the action plans. Progress has also been made on border police, migration figures, but also by the Romanian police to combat all forms of cross-border crime.

Police cooperation will continue, we will step up border protection measures.

Our ambition as a ministry is to make Romania a model, a standard of border protection. Migration is a very serious issue, we are ready to cooperate with the Commission and the Member States.

My objective has been to turn the page on Schengen, to build that trust that will lead us to the shortest way to achieve the objectives of Austria and Romania. I did not come here in the paradigm of one minister asking and another refusing. That is not the right way to work. The proof is the result in December 2022. The right way to work is to identify the problems of each side and find solutions.

I understood from the meeting that Austria does not have a problem with Romania. We are ready to continue working together.

I wanted to make sure if there are any complaints or weaknesses with the way Romania is protecting its borders and I was happy to see that Austria sees this progress.

It is not my role to comment on the Austrian elections.

The application of Schengen is a matter for the EU treaty. The Commission, the European Parliament have their role. Romania is doing its diplomacy multilaterally.

We need to bring into play more understanding for the problems of each state.

Background
The meeting comes against the backdrop of Austria’s veto of Romania’s Schengen accession. Both Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Minister Gerhard Karner announced last month that Austria maintains its opposition to Romania and Bulgaria joining Schengen.

Vienna justifies its veto by accusing Romania of not stopping illegal migrants from arriving in Austria.

Romania has rejected the accusations and maintained that the police are doing their job.

On the other hand, Minister Predoiu also announced that Romanians have lost confidence in the police.

His statements come after the accident in 2 May locality that resulted in two fatalities, caused by a drugged driver who had twice been let loose in traffic by the police.