Schengen accession: the European Parliament passes a tough resolution calling for Austria to be prosecuted for discriminating against Romanians and causing massive financial losses in Romania and Bulgaria

Update: Update: The resolution was adopted on Wednesday by 526 votes to 57 with 42 abstentions, according to a statement. The resolution has no legal force, but is sending a political signal.

Initial Article: A draft European Parliament resolution following a petition by the NGO Clean Energy and Climate Change Association goes to a final vote in Parliament’s plenary on Wednesday, according to the official agenda. The resolution says Romania’s rejection of Schengen membership is „discriminatory” and calls on the European Commission to take Austria to the EU Court of Justice.

Furthermore, the resolution says Austria’s veto has created anti-European sentiment and, by vetoing in December 2022, has caused major damage to both the Romanian and Bulgarian economies and the climate, given the massive pollution at borders where millions of cars wait for hours for checks.

MEPs call on the Council to approve Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen free movement area by the end of 2023.

The Association for Clean Energy and Climate Change, led by Răzvan Nicolescu, former energy minister and former president of the EU Energy Regulatory Authority (ACER), submitted a petition to the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee in March asking the institution to intervene legally in Romania’s Schengen accession process.

The European Parliament has also adopted four resolutions calling for Romania and Bulgaria to join Schengen. The EP resolutions have no legal force but are an instrument of political pressure.

The resolution points out that citizens from Bulgaria and Romania are discriminated against because they face delays, bureaucratic difficulties and extra costs when travelling or doing business abroad compared to their counterparts in the Schengen area, the text says.

Pointing to waiting times at border crossing points, MEPs note that delays faced by Romanians and Bulgarians can last from a few hours to even days – compared to 10 minutes without internal border controls – which also worsens working conditions for lorry drivers.

In addition to the damage caused to the EU’s single market by preventing the free movement of goods between EU member states, the text highlights the „irreparable damage” to the environment, which is not in line with the Union’s climate neutrality objectives. The health of drivers, customs officers and people living near border crossings is put at risk by the increased pollution caused by the thousands of vehicles waiting to cross the border every day, while around 46,000 tonnes of CO2 are emitted every year, say MEPs.

The resolution calls on the Commission to estimate the opportunity costs and environmental damage that Romania and Bulgaria have suffered since June 2011 due to the „unjustified refusal” of Schengen membership, and to encourage it to explore the possibilities of financial compensation. MEPs stress that the current situation „is instrumentalised by anti-EU propaganda, including Russian propaganda” and „undermines the EU’s ability to promote its values and good governance in third countries”.

Currently, all EU Member States except Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania are part of the Schengen free movement area, which also includes the non-EU countries Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The European Commission has assessed that Bulgaria and Romania are ready to join Schengen, and the European Parliament has repeatedly supported their accession, most recently in a resolution on 5 October 2022 and a debate on 14 December 2022.