A draft law is being taken to the Romanian Parliament, which, if approved, would oblige the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs to vote against the interests of the states that do not want Romania in the Schengen Zone, in the Justice and Home Affairs Council.
The main target of this proposal is Austria and the Netherlands as a result of their veto in December last year, which blocked the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU’s passport-free area.
According to the Journal Romania, the initiative signed by two non-affiliated parliamentarians also aims to oblige Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to open action at the Court of Justice of the EU if the JAI Council, as a result of the veto vote expressed by Austria and the Netherlands, either adopts or fails to adopt decisions related to the full implementation of the EU acquis in Romania.
The new draft law has the number PLX 474/2023 and is called “legislative proposal to supplement Law no. 373/2013, regarding the collaboration between the Parliament and the Government in the field of foreign affairs”.
The initiators of this proposal are deputies Bogdan Alexandru Bola as well as Alexandru Kocsis Cristea. The proposal was submitted to the Romanian Parliament on August 24 and is open for public consultation until October 5.
Both Bulgaria and Romania have been waiting to become members of the Schengen Zone for more than ten years, yet the process has still not been finalised. The European Commission has assessed that both Balkan countries are ready to become part of Schengen, while the European Parliament has consciously supported their accession recently in a resolution on October 5, last year and a debate on December 14.
Besides, in July this year, the EU’s Parliament called on the EU Council to allow these two countries to become part of Schengen by the end of this year.
However, the Ministry of the Interior of Austria once again emphasised that its position remains unchanged when it comes to this issue.
The same told SchengenVisaInfo.com that as long as the “Schengen” system does not work, there is no point in expanding it.
Stressing that the migration process remains high, the Ministry said that the external border protection “clearly” does not work.
“Against this background and from today’s point of view, Austria is unable to support the accession of Bulgaria and Romania at this stage,” the Ministry of the Interior stressed.
Besides, the Ministry of the Interior denied claims that Bulgaria and Romania’s readiness will be evaluated by a foreign mission with the participation of representatives from Austria and the Netherlands during this month, as was previously reported.
