Premium
IntMinPredoiu:The purpose of talks with the Austrian counterpart was building trust towards shared goals
Romania's Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu on Wednesday said that the objective of his visit the same day to Vienna, where he held talks with his Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner, was to build "that trust that will take us on the shortest way to the shared goals of Austria and Romania, including Schengen."
Predoiu made the statement at a joint press conference in Vienna with Karner.
"Our talks were friendly, but very serious. My objective - and along the way I saw that it was the minister's as well - was to build the start of a collaboration, to turn the page on the subject of Schengen, to build that trust that take us on the shortest way to common objectives, of Austria and Romania, including Schengen. I did not come here and I did not initiate discussions in the paradigm of the minister who comes and asks, and another who refuses. This is not my way of thinking and this is not the correct way of working, the proof is the result of December 2022. The correct way of working, I think, is to identify the problems of each party in order to be able to build solutions," said Predoiu, told Agerpres.
He added that he wanted to see first of all whether there are any complaints or any weaknesses in the way Romania protects its borders.
"And I was very happy to notice that Austria also sees these advances and that Romania, under all the programmes it has, is well performing. We have done our homework and will continue to do it on border protection and bilateral co-operation. I want to thank the minister for the frankness with which he discussed. Austria does not have a problem with Romania; the Romanian police are doing their job, both at the border and in police co-operation. We are ready to continue this work together," said Predoiu.
He added that, at the same time, Romania "will also support Austria and the European Commission and the member countries in reforming the European migration and asylum system and the legislative framework on border protection."
"This was a first meeting. You can rest assured that there will be others, a work that we are starting and I am convinced that we will continue until we reach a result within a reasonable timeframe," said Predoiu.
He was asked if he thinks that Austria will change its position on the enlargement of the Schengen Area before its next year's general election.
"You asked me about the upcoming election in Austria. It is not my role as the Romanian interior minister to comment on what is going to happen or not in the upcoming elections in Austria. My role is to make sure that the Interior Ministry perform well in the protection of migration and police co-operation. As I said, and it was discussed internally, and it was recognised by the Austrian side, there is progress with all the projects we have, the group of actions with Austria," said Predoiu.
He added that the application of the Schengen Agreement is a European treaty problem.
"Therefore, the European Commission, the European Parliament, also have their role to play here. We are aware of that. (...) Romania conducts its diplomatic actions multilaterally starting from these premises. We are also aware that the rule of law must be applied in all areas. Romania will never give up this position, but at the same time, I think that we need to bring into play more openness in understanding each other's problems and trying to solve them together both bilaterally and inside a European framework. Otherwise, we will remain prisoners of a dialogue of the deaf. I am neither deaf nor blind, and I am also very eager to work. We will work together for that, but it does not mean that Romania gives up its interests , not for a moment. (...) What is important is that, immediately after we leave here, we continue our work and, one day, we will also reach the results," said Predoiu.
