The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, ordered the summoning of the ambassador of the Republic of Austria in Bucharest, on Thursday evening, to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), in order to inform her of Romania’s position regarding the accession to the Schengen area and the protest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs towards the unjustified and unfriendly attitude of Austria, „which will produce inevitable consequences on bilateral relations”, according to Agerpres.

„The Austrian ambassador was told that Vienna’s negative vote is all the more surprising in the context of the existence of long diplomatic relations, with a tradition of over 100 years, between our countries, as well as substantial bilateral cooperation, especially in the economic field – Austria being one of the most important economic partners of Romania and the second foreign investor on the Romanian market. Equally, the Romanian-Austrian collaboration at the regional and European level, as well as the close coordination in files of common interest at the international level should have weighed considerably in Austria’s voting decision”, the MAE announced in a release sent to Agerpres.

Also, the ambassador was sent the firm protest against the accusations expressed by the Austrian authorities regarding the so-called pressure on Austrian companies, statements that are inadmissible, not being in accordance with reality.

„Furthermore, the MAE will remain fully engaged, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the other Romanian institutions involved, to achieve the objective of Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, as an essential part of strengthening the internal security of the European Union as a whole. The MAE recalls the fact that in all during this period, the Romanian side acted firmly, through concrete and complex steps, successfully managing to remove the objections of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Sweden. In this context, it must be emphasized that the vote of the Netherlands in the JHA Council on December 8 was not given against Romania, as was clearly mentioned by the Dutch side during the meeting”, the release added.

At the same time, the MAE expresses its special appreciation for the support Romania received from the Czech Presidency of the EU Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, all European partners, as well as cooperation partners from our country who supported Romania’s approach.

Agerpres