Austria confirms agreement with Romania and Bulgaria on joining Schengen with air borders/ Vienna sends confirmation to Spanish EU Presidency/ Member countries must give their consent
by KernunQc7
Austria confirms agreement with Romania and Bulgaria on joining Schengen with air borders/ Vienna sends confirmation to Spanish EU Presidency/ Member countries must give their consent
by KernunQc7
28 comments
DeepL Translate:
“Austria has confirmed the agreement with Romania and Bulgaria on “Schengen Air”, border-free entry by air, reports the Austrian Press Agency. A legally binding text to this effect was sent to the Spanish EU presidency on Friday evening, as confirmed to APA on Saturday by the Interior Ministry. Romania had already announced the agreement a few days ago.
The agreement means that travellers from Romania and Bulgaria will in future no longer have to fly to other EU countries via international terminals. Passports will be checked at the gate by airlines, with police support.
According to the interior ministry in Vienna, all EU countries must first approve the agreement before it can be implemented. The earliest possible date for the regulation’s introduction would therefore be March 2024, as this is when flight schedules will be changed.
There are currently no negotiations on Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the border-free Schengen area and therefore no date, the Interior Ministry added.
Austria’s three conditions for this agreement were also outlined in the text. These were an increase in the deployment of the European border protection agency Frontex in Romania and Bulgaria, as well as money from the European Commission for the protection of the external borders of these countries, a strengthening of land border controls and the acceptance by Romania and Bulgaria of asylum seekers from Austria, in particular from Afghanistan and Syria, the source added.
On 8 December 2022, Austria blocked an extension of the borderless Schengen system to include Romania and Bulgaria, citing the large number of asylum seekers. The Netherlands also opposed Bulgaria’s Schengen accession.
Romania’s Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday evening that on 23 December it had reached a political agreement with the Austrian and Bulgarian Interior Ministries to enter Schengen with air and sea borders from March 2024, while negotiations for land accession will continue next year.
“On 23 December 2023, the Ministry of Interior reached a political agreement with the counterpart ministries of Austria and Bulgaria on the extension of the Schengen Area with Romania and Bulgaria and the application of the Schengen acquis communautaire in Romania and Bulgaria at the air and sea borders as of March 2024, as well as the discussion in 2024 of its application at the land borders in close connection with the compensatory measures on the strengthening of border control and the application of the Dublin Agreement,” the Ministry of Interior’s press release reads.
The Dutch Parliament approved on 21 December the government’s position in favour of Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area as a full member, Bulgarian Interior Minister Kalin Stoianov announced. Austria’s position remained the only remaining obstacle to Sofia’s Schengen application.
The Netherlands has no objections to Romania joining Schengen.
Last week, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also announced that Hungary would lift its objection to Bulgaria’s Schengen accession after the Bulgarian parliament formally confirms the abolition of an additional tax on Russian gas shipments.”
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Personal opinion: a very weak president and consecutive extremely underperforming PMs from PNL/PSD have resulted in a disastrous situation.
The rest of the EU and the commision/parliament tolerating this didn’t help.
Expect RO to shift heavily towards ru in 2024, if I were the US I’d think twice about those F-35s sales.
edit. It is bewildering that the US State Department decided to intervene, it would have been better if they didn’t do anything at all.
They forced us to take more refugees and our politicians agreed. What a disaster!!!
Westerners can now ship their excess of “doctors” and “engineers” here so they can continue to lecture us on progressive values guilt free.
Great success for our government, they doubled the support for every eurosceptic party in Bulgaria, while barely keeping afloat with their extremely shaky coalition. Can’t see this backfiring, at all.
It feels like you guys made yourself a second class citizens with this decision. I know that russian whores from austria treated you like that already, but you basically agreed with that.
Dunno what to say if you wont vote this gov out.
Romania has already a lot of Ukrainian war refugees. Now the country is blackmailed into taking the Syrians and Afghans Austria don’t want with the blessing of the whole EU, which is accomplice to this abject blackmail. With such friends Ro and BG do not need enemies.
The EU version of Alabama is invited to plant its lips between my rear cheeks i will give them some of my AIR schengen then. God this is infuriating.
Bunch of loonies in the comments lol.
Years ago in here in Canada I had a Romanian friend who complained that his country and its citizens would always be looked down upon by Western Europe. I thought he was a bit dramatic.
But I guess he was not wrong.
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Why would any country do what Austria asks them to do? I would rather not become Schengen member if I were to accept suspicuous refugees from Afghanistan and Middle East. Where are we going with this?
Bulgaria and Romania, like all EU Member States, already apply the Dublin Regulation. Under the Regulation, asylum claims should generally be processed in the EU country where they are first registered. So, if someone was first registered as an asylum seeker in BG or RO but then submits a fresh claim in Austria, they can be (and often are) returned to BG/RO for processing.
This has been common practice for many years now. Not sure why they wanted to spell it out explicitly other than to create misinformation and foment anti-EU sentiments. Cui bono? A certain big bear in the east, I’d wager.
Austria is scared the Russian spies they currently host will run away through Romania and Bulgaria… Who will now pay for those overpriced apartments in Vienna.
Sooo land borders when??
They want all the gas from Neptun Deep from themselves too. That’s why they are playing rogue 🙁
Their demands are not only bullshit but also illegal. Romania fulfilled the requirements to join since 2011, i think. They must be sued and should pay compensation for every minute a truck spends unnecessary on borders. 18-20 billions/ year
It feels so bad seeing the governments of both countries agree to this just so they can say “Hey guys! We did something good!”. Yet this “step forward” seems like 5 steps back. We shouldn’t back down for small internal political gains. We should keep fighting to have the full rights the rest of the continental EU are entitled to!
And maybe pull a Hungary move and veto all important things for Austria in the council of the EU (GERB are experts in blackmail already, they would do a great job at this) /s
> Cele trei condiții ale Austriei pentru acest acord au fost de asemenea prezentate în textul prezentat. Acestea au fost o creștere a desfășurării agenției europene de protecție a frontierelor Frontex în România și Bulgaria, precum și bani de la Comisia Europeană pentru protecția frontierelor externe ale acestor țări, o întărire a controalelor la frontierele terestre și **acceptarea de către România și Bulgaria a solicitanților de azil din Austria**, în special din Afganistan și Siria
Translation:
> The three conditions of Austria for this agreement were also presented in the text. These were an increase in the deployment of the European border protection agency Frontex in Romania and Bulgaria, as well as funds from the European Commission for the protection of these countries’ external borders, a strengthening of land border controls, and **the acceptance by Romania and Bulgaria of asylum seekers from Austria**, especially from Afghanistan and Syria
So basically we become a dumping ground for any asylum seekers Austria doesn’t want but can’t legally do anything about.
This is outrageous and a direct assault on Romania and Bulgaria and we should treat it as such! How much longer will we have to tolerate these aggravations?
What happened with the sea borders? Wasn’t it air AND sea?
This is a bullshit. Veto in UE in everything related to Austria until they no longer have imperialist pretensions. As for the Council of Europe, it seems to be even worse. Only statements and nothing more.
They can stick their agreement up their asses !
Their cheap imperialistic attitude will end soon as they are slowly overtaken by immigrants and proletarians and they will remain nothing more than a Russian extension in EU .
First time I wish for a veto
Prime example of European unity.
As a Romanian, I am tired of this conversation. I don’t want in Schengen, I don’t even know what is the best choice for us. What I know is that despite I loved visiting Austria for holidays many times in the past, me and my family are and will be avoiding it.
Fuck Austria!!
Hours ago they were stating that there are no discussions about this.
They are fucking with Romania and Bulgaria while butt licking Russia!
The whole European project is becoming a big bad joke… To bad that we allow this to happen. Romania and Bulgaria don’t deserve this.
Russian money in the works and it would pay off significantly. As a result of such compromise, far right parties and opportunists in RO/BG would gain huge popularity and make no mistake, russian influence would likely increase as a result of this.