Interior Minister Bode, letter to his Austrian counterpart accusing him of „lies and injustice”: „In January you assured me of Austria’s support for Schengen accession” / „You have managed to stir up the revolt not only of the Romanians in Austria, but also of your own citizens”

Interior Minister Lucian Bode expresses his bewilderment at Austria’s decision to vote against Romania’s entry into the Schengen area in an open letter to Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner. „Nothing great and lasting can be built on lies and injustice,” Bode wrote in the harshest statement by a Romanian official to the Austrian government since the veto on Schengen enlargement.

„You have played a political game unworthy of a country that has such a rich political tradition and has been a consolidated democracy for so long. In our meeting in January you assured me of Austria’s support for Schengen accession, and at the Salzburg Forum Ministerial Conference in Bucharest, Austria agreed to a joint declaration in which all members welcomed Austria’s support for Romania’s Schengen accession,” Bode wrote in the letter, four days after the JHA Council meeting.

On Friday, in another political gesture in response to Austria, the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest withdrew Romania’s ambassador to Vienna, Emil Hurezeanu – an unprecedented political gesture towards an EU member state.

„No one could understand what happened during two days, why you fundamentally changed your position, when nothing new had appeared. You treated Romanians and Romania in an unfair, discriminatory and illogical way.

I am sorry to tell you, but this way of behaving and acting is not appropriate for any politician in the European Union.

You know, as well as I do, that the migration problem you have raised cannot be blamed on Romania. All the other Member States understand this, Minister.

You have succeeded in stirring up the revolt not only of the Romanians in Austria, but also of your own citizens, who know the realities on the ground and know that it is unfair and immoral to punish millions of European citizens using false arguments”, Bode wrote in the open letter.

You can reade Bode’s full letter on his Facebook page.

Translated article