European Commissioner-designate for internal affairs and migration, Magnus Brunner, on Tuesday evening expressed his hope that Romania and Bulgaria will fully enter Schengen Area, as decision belongs to member states [of the Justice and Home Affairs Council – editor’s note].

„Of course that the member states are to decide who enter Schengen and who doesn’t. There has been made extraordinary progress, if I may say so, in the cases of Romania and Bulgaria, and they are already in the Schengen Area, although just partially. However, as I’ve found out this morning, Austria is maintaining a very good dialogue with Romania and Bulgaria. Discussions continue and I am positive, or at least this is my approach, that this dialogue will bring a full integration of Romania and Bulgaria as soon as possible. Of course that there is much talk in my country on this topic too, but this is my opinion. And I am glad that discussions were increasingly frequent between the foreign affairs ministers and the presidents,” the Austrian Commissioner said at his hearing in the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE).

He answered thus to a question addressed to him by a Bulgarian MEP related to the decisions taken in the recent month by several Schengen states to reintroduce border control.

„A better management of migration means a balanced and determined approach, which means that we decide who comes in Europe and under what circumstances, and not the so called guides,” underscored Brunner. He mentioned that a priority would be to apply the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, which is scheduled to come into force in 2026, with the EU member states to play an important role in its adoption.

According to the Commissioner, some of this Pact’s elements are to be implemented even before 2026, while observing the balance between „responsibility and solidarity.”

The Austrian politician announced that, if he would be validated as Commissioner, in the first half of next year he will draft a new European Internal Security Strategy, with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation Europol, which needs to be consolidated, to play an essential part in it.

Another topic he tackled was that related to the external border, as Magnus Brunner underscored the need for strengthening the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, and informed the EU Executive that he is going to propose tripling the number of Frontex employees, up to 30,000.

AGERPRES