Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said he would sue Vienna for vetoing Romania’s accession to the European Union’s borderless Schengen area.
He said Bucharest could recover losses caused by not joining the free movement zone, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
If Chancellor (Karl) Nehammer unjustifiably uses his veto power again, as Prime Minister I will have to challenge the Austrian decision before the European Court of Justice in order to claim compensation for the losses caused by non-accession .
The Romanian Prime Minister said his country had lost up to 2 percent of its economic output due to delays in finalizing this process. He stressed that he would attempt to recover a sufficient amount of damages.
According to a report by the Financial Times, the gross domestic product of this Balkan country last year amounted to 286 billion euros.
The Romanian threat was, however, rejected by a spokesperson for the Austrian Foreign Ministry.
Romania’s hopes of becoming the new member of the borderless Schengen area were stopped in December last year by Austria and the Netherlands, who did not support Bucharest in achieving this objective, citing problems of illegal immigration.
Even if Romanian nationals wait more than ten years to benefit from some benefits of the passport-free zone, they may have to wait a little longer after that Austria recently stressed that nothing has changed in its clear position.
The Austrian Interior Ministry told SchengenVisaInfo.com that as long as the Schengen system does not work, there will be no point in expanding it, emphasizing that Vienna is not in a position to support Romania’s membership and from Bulgaria to the Schengen area.
Clearly there is a security problem and we need a change in the EU’s mentality towards illegal immigration. We have therefore sent a warning signal to Brussels by not agreeing to expand this dysfunctional system.
The European Commission has assessed that Romania and Bulgaria meet all the necessary conditions for joining the Schengen area. Furthermore, in July this year, the Bulgarian government announced that it had adopted a governance program, thus prioritizing Romania’s accession to the Schengen zone by the end of this year and the membership of the eurozone by January 1, 2025.
Recently, the President of the European Union Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasized that should the two countries admit Bulgaria and Romania into the borderless Schengen area without further delay.
