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MEP Tomac: Current power attempting to pass off great failure as a huge victory
Romania's air and sea Schengen deal is a step forward, yet is by no means "a great achievement", and the current power attempts to pass off "a great failure" as "a huge victory", People's Movement Party (PMP - opposition) MEP Eugen Tomac wrote on Facebook.
"Everything must still be considered through the lens of the humiliation Romania endured at the JHA Council meeting on December 8, 2022, when Austria and the Netherlands blocked the enlargement of the visa-free area with us and our Bulgarian neighbors, but accepted at the same meeting Croatia's two-phased entry on a fully approved calendar for 2023. What has happened since until December 30, 2023, when, through a written procedure and not via an ordinary JHA Council, the member states decided in just a few hours the partial acceptance of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen? There were circumstances that changed the course of events and they must be viewed as a whole," wrote Tomac.
According to him, until 2022 the governments of Romania did not follow a common strategy with the governments of Bulgaria, and communication between Bucharest and Sofia on this file was just "superficial". The MEP also reminds that until 2023 Bulgaria has been through a long governmental crisis, with five rounds of early elections between 2021 and 2023.
"There are still no major changes in Bucharest's approach, but we strategically called for support that mattered enormously, and was perhaps even key to determining Austria to give up its veto to Romania's membership. The support of the United States of America caused Vienna to radically change its rhetoric. From there on, the matter became increasingly clear and easier to manage by all the other actors involved. Austria had to change its tone also because it was left alone, as the Netherlands, which through the voice of Prime Minister Rutte had been the mastermind of the 11-year blockade on the Schengen enlargement, renounced this approach. And this despite its January 2023 pledge, alongside Nehammer, for a not-so-soon Schengen expansion. The reason why the Netherlands can no longer stay so rigid is simple: Prime Minister Mark Rutte is preparing to become NATO Secretary General in 2024 and he cannot muster consensus from all 30 member states with an inflexible approach in the EU in the relationship with two NATO eastern flank allies," the PMP leader explains.
Tomac mentioned that, against the background of these two important political aspects, the European Commission together with the Spanish EU Presidency played the "compromise card" in the relationship with Austria, but the latter once again had its way, obtaining exactly what it wanted: a postponement of Romania and Bulgaria's Schengen entry until 2025.