Spain, as the president of the Council of the European Union, supports Romania’s accession to the Schengen area and makes sure that this topic is on the agenda again – either in October or in 4 or 5 December within the Council of Ministers of the Interior in EU. All other states – apart from Austria – support Romania’s accession, said prime minister Marcel Ciolacu in an interview for the Austrian publication Der Standard published on Friday, write Agerpres.

He stated that he will sue Austria if it again abuses its veto right against Romania’s accession to Schengen. „If the chancellor (Karl) Nehammer makes unjustified use of the veto again, I will have to challenge Austria’s decision at the European Court as prime minister to demand compensation for the losses caused by the non- accession,” said Ciolacu. According to the prime minister, the damage amounts to at least two percent of the GDP. But, in his opinion, the worst thing is that Austria has set a precedent.

„Normally, the member states follow the recommendations of the EU institutions. Croatia applied for accession approximately 4-5 years ago. Romania and Bulgaria could have blocked the accession, but we did not do this,’, said Marcel Ciolacu. He revealed in the interview that Nehammer informed the Romanian authorities only a few days before the EU Council meeting in December 2022 that he would not support Romania’s accession. This led to frustrations among the authorities and the Romanian population.

„What I cannot accept either is the statement according to which the veto would be related to the electoral campaign in Austria. What Nehammer claims is also not true, namely that there is a very active migration through Romania. We have also introduced, together with Serbia, joint controls to remove this topic from the center of the discussions,” said the head of the Romanian executive.

„At this moment we have only one aggressor in Europe and that is why now would have been the most favorable moment to demonstrate solidarity within the EU. Austria is as neutral as the Republic of Moldova. You cannot claim security at the European level and expect that, together with Romania and other EU member states, you will become part of the Sky Shield project, that is, watch how Romania strives financially to strengthen European defense, but at the same time deny the same Romania a right like accession to Schengen!” commented Ciolacu.