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President Iohannis, on Schengen: I am pretty optimistic that in 2023 the process concludes with a positive result
President Klaus Iohannis stated on Thursday that there were discussions about the Schengen matter in the European Council meeting, adding he is optimistic that in 2023 the process shall conclude with a positive result for Romania and Bulgaria.
"I am pretty optimistic that in 2023 the process shall be concluded with a positive result for Romania and Bulgaria," the head of state said after the meeting of the European Council.
On Thursday night, in Brussels president Klaus Iohannis declared himself certain that, when the Austrian and Dutch votes receive a clarification, Romania's accession to Schengen will immediately be on the agenda of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs.
On Wednesday and Thursday, on the sidelines of the European Council meeting, the Romanian president had meetings with European leaders, including the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson. Sweden is going to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union from January 1.
"I had a discussion with the Swedish prime minister, I presented the problem to him, he understood it very well, he had been 'briefed' on the matter, as they say, in specialized language. Of course, he did not make a firm commitment in a discussion which was a first exploratory discussion, but I am convinced that the moment the two issues, the Austrian vote and the Dutch vote, receive a clarification, the matter will immediately be on the JHA Council. I repeat, no one has, and this is what I say firmly, the interest for this problem to turn once again into something negative for the Union. It is a very complicated period, we have many crises, the European Union does not need another failure, because that was it. I called it syncopated. The European Union needs successes, positive results," said president Iohannis, on the sidelines of the European Council meeting, when asked if there is certainty that Sweden will introduce the subject of Schengen on the agenda of the JHA Council in March.
He pointed out that no concrete calendar was discussed.
The president also said that he did not discuss with the Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, about the problem of ambassadors, in the context of the recall to the country of the Romanian ambassador to Austria, Emil Hurezeanu.
"This is a matter that will be regulated by itself, at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No, I don't have the impression at any moment that a diplomatic crisis or something like that will take shape. We won't have something like that," Iohannis concluded.