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The Austrian Minister of the Interior is coming to Bucharest
The Austrian Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, who, together with the Chancellor of Austria, opposed Romania’s accession to Schengen, will come to Bucharest on Wednesday, sources told Romania mass media.
According to these sources, one of the meetings of the Austrian official would be with the Romanian Minister of the Interior, Lucian Bode.
The Austrian press is also talking about the visit that the Austrian official will make to Bucharest. The visit to the Romanian capital is a first for Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, who will meet his Romanian counterpart Lucian Bode on Wednesday, exxpress.at reports.
According to the Austrian publication, “the main topic will be the migration situation in the EU, in particular the common fight against migrant trafficking and asylum abuses, as well as the protection of external borders”.
“Romania and Austria want to continue to cooperate closely in the field of security. Our common objective is to continue to exert pressure on the European Commission, primarily to make the management of external borders more robust and to support countries like Romania in this regard. Only a functional management of the external borders allows the freedom of travel without borders within the European Union“, said the Austrian Minister of the Interior before the visit to Bucharest, referring to the Schengen area.
The publication specifies that, in preparation for his visit to Bucharest, Gerhard Karner already met with the Romanian ambassador in Vienna last Friday and had a video call with his Romanian counterpart.
The Austrian minister, who opposed the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen at the end of last year, received the visit of his counterpart from Spain last week, as Madrid prepares to take over the EU presidency, from July 1, and promised to unblock the file Schengen.
The Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) of the European Union rejected on December 8, 2022 the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen and only accepted Croatia’s request. Austria managed to block the decision favorable to our country in the JAI Council, as unanimity is required for Schengen accession. The Netherlands joined it, under the conditions in which it opposes the accession of Bulgaria, and the vote was given “together with Romania”.