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Romanian MEPs of the European People's Party group will support all European solutions to the migration crisis aimed at helping Austria, but they will be very firm in saying that they do not accept for Romania to become a collateral victim of the internal political problems in Austria, MEP Siegfried Muresan, the EPP vice-president, told AGERPRES on Wednesday.
Siegfried Muresan is among the Romanian MEPs participating, Wednesday to Friday, in a high-level EPP meeting in Vienna, chaired by the group's leader, Manfred Weber, and attended by Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, as well as his counterparts from Slovakia and Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic and Eduard Heger.
"Inevitably, Schengen will be on the agenda and we, the Romanian delegation, will bring it on the agenda from the beginning of the meeting. There will be discussions with the Minister of European Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the head of government, the chancellor, included. What will we say to them? We will tell them again that Romania fulfills all the conditions of accession, that our accession is in the interest of the entire EU, we will also listen to the complaints and arguments that they might have and which may lead them to certain reservations," the Romanian MEP said in a phone conversation.
He maintains that Romania has nothing to do with the migration issue raised by Austria.
"That is precisely why we will support all European solutions to the migration crisis, all solutions that help Austria, but we will be very clear, very firm, in saying that we do not accept that Romania should become a collateral victim of Austria's internal political problems. Colleagues from the EPP have been united by our side in the last weeks and I am convinced that the EPP will be united on Romania's side and together we will try to convince this last state to support our accession to the Schengen Area," he added.
Siegfried Muresan also said that Romania having managed to convince "so many member states in the last months" gives him hope that he will be able to do the same with Austria "using all the channels we have, all the political, diplomatic means, in these days".
"Since 26 member states support us, we must work together with this last 27th member state to find a solution. The decision to put the topic on the agenda is correct and our goal is to have a positive vote tomorrow, to have as the Council's conclusion Romania's accession to the Schengen Area at the earliest possible date," he emphasized.
