Premium
On Wednesday, while addressing Romania's failed attempt to join the Schengen Area, President Klaus Iohannis stated that "the guilty are not to be found in Bucharest, nor in Romania."
"I have seen that there are many public advisors who create expectations related to the Council meeting of today and tomorrow. I can tell you right from the start that I will have many discussions, I will raise the matter in the plenary of the Council, I will explain once again why Romania must become part of the Schengen Area, but practical solutions will be found in the next JHA Council, which will be better prepared. I don't even think that anyone imagined that from last week to today Austria or the Netherlands have changed their attitude and that we are going to solve today in the European Council what we couldn't solve last week in the JHA meeting. It's not good to have such expectations, because they don't come true. A lot of work is needed. We all got involved, the colleagues who are now with me in the room and who are intensely concerned with these matters and the relevant ministers, they also did their job. So that's why the hunt for culprits that started right after our failure in some environment seemed a little strange to me. The culprits are not to be found in Bucharest, nor in Romania. You know very well why it was not possible to get the vote, but we are not discouraged. In no case will I give up until Romania becomes a member of Schengen," said Iohannis, before participating in the European Union - Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit.
He stated that in the case of Romania's accession to Schengen, nothing more could be done, because Austria's change of attitude occurred just a few days before the meeting of the Justice and Internal Affairs Council.
"No, there was nothing more that we could have done, because the change of attitude occurred only a few days before the JHA and was not motivated by what we or the Bulgarians or others did. There are other more political motivations involved and it was not possible to get a change of attitude. (...) It could not be anticipated, because you probably remember that on November 16, so shortly before the JHA Council meeting, the interior ministers met in Bucharest, including the Austrian interior minister, and they all were enthusiastic and agreed that Romania entered Schengen, and then after a few days and with insufficient time, even based on the procedure, it was not possible to postpone the voting from the JHA meeting because it was this change of attitude that happened there," stated the head of state. AGERPRES
