MEP Muresan: Hopefully, by the end of the year Austria will lift its unjustified objection

MEP Siegfried Muresan, vice-president of the European People's Party group, has welcomed the broad support once again extended on Wednesday by the European Parliament to Romania's accession to the Schengen area and expressed hope that Austria will lift its unjustified objection by the end of the year.

"The European Parliament told us today what we already knew, the fact that it supports us, but the new element is the imperative request to adopt our accession by the end of the year and the imperative request to Austria to lift its objection. I hope that Austria will lift its unjustified objection by the end of the year. The Romanian government has obviously met all its commitments, including the implementation of that new pilot project carried out with European support at Romania's external border and a similar pilot project at Bulgaria's external border is proceeding according to plan. These are intended to show Austria once again that the problem with asylum seekers in Austria does not originate in Romania and these people, these refugees, did not come to Romania, nor did they pass through Romania. As such, we hope this unjustified objection will be lifted,'' Muresan told a group of Romanian journalists at a meeting in Strasbourg.

In his opinion, the resolution adopted on Wednesday by the European Parliament is a significant institutional instrument to increase the pressure on the current government in Vienna and is the certification of the fact that Romania's accession to the Schengen area "is not a subject that will divide Europe."

The resolution of the European Parliament, having regard to a petition by Romania's former Energy Minister Razvan Nicolescu on behalf of Asociatia pentru Energie Curata si Combaterea Schimbarilor Climatice, emphasises that Romania and Bulgaria have already demonstrated compliance with the necessary criteria, their effective fulfilment of Schengen obligations, and the positive contribution they already bring to the Schengen area.
The EP expresses deep regret about the outcome of the European Council deliberations of 8 December 2022, resulting in Romania and Bulgaria being denied accession to the Schengen area, without any legal justification related to accession criteria having been presented and requests that the Council vote, without further delay and no later than the end of 2023, in favour of the accession of the two countries and their full application of the Schengen acquis solely on the basis of their fulfilment of the Schengen criteria. It also underlines that the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area is essential, as an enlarged Schengen area without internal border controls will make the EU stronger.

The resolution calls on the European Commission to estimate the financial losses, missed gains and environmental damage incurred by Romania and Bulgaria, as well as by the Union as a whole, since 2011 due to the fact that Romania and Bulgaria are not Schengen members; considers that the European Commission should analyse possible mechanisms for the compensation of financial losses incurred by Bulgaria and Romania due to the negative and unjustified denial of Schengen area membership, taking into consideration financial losses starting from June 2011; the EP emphasises that the negative decision on the Schengen membership of Romania and Bulgaria is instrumentalised by anti-EU propaganda, including Russian propaganda and undermines the EU's capacity to promote its values and good governance in non-EU countries, including in accession countries.


Currently, all EU member states except Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania are part of the Schengen free-travel area, which also includes non-EU states Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The European Commission has assessed that Bulgaria and Romania are ready to join Schengen, and the European Parliament has repeatedly supported their accession, most recently in a resolution on 5 October 2022 and a debate on 14 December 2022.