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EPP Congress/Manifesto demanding Romania's accession to Schengen as soon as possible, adopted unanimously
The European People's Party unanimously adopted on Wednesday, during its congress in Bucharest, the manifesto demanding Romania's accession to the Schengen area as soon as possible, after the Austrian delegation of the People's Party, in power, renounced voting against.
"Surprise at the Congress of the European People's Party in Bucharest. The Austrian delegation no longer voted against the electoral manifesto of the European People's Party, which calls for Romania's accession to the Schengen area as soon as possible. The manifesto was adopted unanimously. This vote shows that the blockage was overcome and that, even if there were difficulties, we will overcome them and we will obtain the full accession of Romania to the Schengen area", said the Romanian MEP Siegfried Muresan, vice-president of the EPP, in a press release on Wednesday evening.
The manifesto adopted by the EPP mentions that "we need full accession to Schengen for Bulgaria and Romania, by lifting as soon as possible not only the air and maritime checks, but also the checks at the land borders".
We need to fix the Schengen area, which is currently dysfunctional, in particular by further strengthening the protection of the EU's external borders and by preventing illegal migration to Europe, in order to have a safe and complete Schengen area without internal border checks", the internal document of the pan-European formation also advocates.
Earlier, during the joint press conference held at the opening of the EPP Congress, Manfred Weber admitted that there is an "Austrian challenge" and stated that "in the EPP we have different opinions on some of the issues and it is absolutely democratic to express them".
"One thing I want to convey clearly: the EPP supports the full expansion of the Schengen area, so that Romania and Bulgaria should immediately join the Schengen area, they meet all the criteria", Manfred Weber emphasized during the press conference held at the beginning of the EP Congress, together with the president of the PNL, Nicolae Ciuca.
Also, Manfred Weber wanted to congratulate the Romanian "friends" for joining the Schengen area with sea and air borders from March 31.
"The first step is now the accession with maritime and air borders, and we want to see Romania and Bulgaria accede to the Schengen area as soon as possible. The EPP as a party is clear on this," the EPP leader emphasized.
He took the opportunity to ask the socialists in Austria to consider a change of opinion "because they are also against granting Romania and Bulgaria full access to Schengen". "So we have an Austrian challenge in front of us, we have to convince all the parties", Weber also said.