The Long Road to Schengen

One week ago, Austria blocked Romania and Bulgaria from joining the free circulation Schengen area within the EU

Corina Cristea, 16.12.2022, 01:20

One week ago, Austria blocked Romania and Bulgaria, pair states in this endeavor, from joining the free circulation Schengen area within the EU. Only a few days before, the authorities in Bucharest breathed a sigh of relief, having obtained approval from The Netherlands after years of opposition. This having happened, Austria’s turning of the tables at the last moment was surprising to say the least. Vienna was unyielding to the end, under the claim that it faces too high a number of immigrants. Its decision, claimed to be unjustified and unjust, brought about a wave of reactions from Bucharest and Sofia, as well as Brussels. Officials from the EP and EC expressed their disappointment, and sent messages in support of Romania and Bulgaria. Even the president of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, stood apart from the decision of the government led by Karl Nehammer. ‘I profoundly regret the decision to block Romania and Bulgaria in joining Schengen’, said the Austrian president, who admitted at the same time that his country was facing a difficult situation in having to cope with such a high number of asylum seekers. At the same time, the Austrian chancellor rejected the idea that domestic politics were behind the vote cast last week. In an interview with the public television channel in Vienna, he stated that any connection with the elections in lower Austria scheduled for late January was an absurd proposition. In the interview, he again brought up the 75,000 illegal migrants of the 100,000 reaching his country, and claimed that most of them arrived transiting Romania and Bulgaria. Romanian PM Nicolae Ciuca said in Bucharest that Austria’s vote was unjustified:

“All European states agreed to open the gates for Romanians towards the Schengen Space, in recognition of our preparations, but also the continued efforts along many years to protect European outer borders. All of them, with a single and unjustified exception – Austria. Unanimity was not possible in the context in which a single member state, Austria, refused Romania’s integration. This decision is still founded on allegations that Romania clearly proved incorrect. We didn’t even use national estimations, we used the data from EU agencies, which have to be the basis of European decisions. We acknowledged the difficulties faced by member states that are under migrant pressure, and we have always acted actively and in solidarity for finding European level solutions. We regret, and sincerely fail to understand, this inflexible position taken by Austria.

This failure to be admitted is not just another botched political aim, but the stakes are much higher. Speaking for Radio Romania was Mihai Ionescu, executive president of the National Association of Exporters and Importers of Romania, and joint president of the Council of Export of Romania. He talked about Romania’s economic and financial losses being incurred:

“In addition to what Romania has invested for securing the EU’s outer borders – which were massive, on the level of billions of Euros – now here we are, with a veto that completely lacks logic, contradicting the conclusions of expert bodies, which established that Romania meets the technical criteria for joining Schengen. I want to stress that, the technical criteria. Our not joining this area brings great damage to exporters and importers, in the sense that any merchandise that enters or exits Romania has to linger at border crossings for hours on end. Considering that every hour is money, this leads to lower competitiveness of our products that go to export. This artificial barrier, which smacks of politics 100%, is among the mechanisms that are being condemned by the WTO. This non-tariff barrier causes us to incur very high trade deficits every year. This year, according to our calculations, it cost us 33 billion Euro as trade deficit, which, per capita, is at least 1,500 Euro as legacy deficit, a debt that we leave as a burden to the next generations. We ask ourselves why. It is because of some politicians, because of their political games and interests which barred Romania in an unjustified way, and proof of that is our reaction, that of Romanians, that of the other EU partners, even that of the citizens of Austria.

Romania’s economy stands to lose 10 billion Euro every year, along with many more money that every citizen and company trying to cross borders pays, as estimated by Romanian Minister of the Economy Florin Spataru. The Romanian authorities said that a constructive solution is needed, and that Bucharest would use all available means of untying this knot. Here is what President Klaus Iohannis said:

“This vote, though upsetting and disappointing, did not make me back down. Personally, I will be keeping very close to this phenomenon, and I am determined to carry things further, until Romania becomes a member of the Schengen space.

According to an opinion poll funded by the Romanian Academy before the deciding vote, almost 78% of Romanians agreed with the idea that their country was treated like a second hand member of the EU, and over 70% of them agreed that Romania met all the criteria for, and eventually will achieve, membership in the Schengen space.