Romania is a pillar of stability in its region and can support the economic development of Europe thanks to its access to the Black Sea, Romanian Business Leaders (RBL) said on Monday ahead of a vote on Romania’s full accession to the European Union’s border-free Schengen area, Agerpres reports.

In a press statement released on Monday, the business leaders draw attention to the fact that Romania should not pay for all the internal political problems of some other member states, or the possibly ineffective policies of the European Union to stop illegal immigration.

„We are a few days away from the vote on Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, and Romanian entrepreneurs read with astonishment that Austria seems to oppose our accession, despite the proximity between the two countries. What unites us with Austria? Many things, it seems since: around 370,000 Romanians visit Austria every year, spending around 250 million euros there; trade between Romania and Austria was worth 4.5 billion euros in 2021, 1.7 billion euros worth of Romanian exports and 2.8 billion euros worth of Austrian imports; Austrian investment is the second largest in Romania, with approximately 5.3 billion euros in direct investment and over 8,000 companies running on Austrian capital in Romania. And then what is Austria’s problem, why does it not want us in Schengen? We are told that what bothers it is the wave of migrants flooding Austria despite the fact that, according to the European Commission’s October 2022 report, Romania’s contribution to the wave of immigrants is zero, with Serbia being the gateway for immigrants to Austria via Hungary,” reads the RBL statement.

RBL adds that Austria used to be the cradle of civilisation for Romania for hundreds of years and supported its development in many ways. At the same time, Romania is a pillar of stability in tits region and can support the economic development of Europe through its access to the Black Sea.

The Romanian economy needs free borders towards the European single market. On the brink of a major global recession, obstacles at the European border will sabotage the efforts of Romanian entrepreneurs to resist, says RBL.

„We have checked all the technical conditions at the borders; the cooperation and verification mechanism has been lifted. What else can be blamed on us? Romania should not pay for all the internal political problems of some other member states, or for the ineffective policies of the EU to stop illegal immigration. Romania should not be the scapegoat of Europe,” according to RBL Chairman Dragos Petrescu.

Romanian Business Leaders (RBL) is the voice and vehicle of action of the business leaders in the Romanian private sector for the construction of a Romania in which future generations want to live. RBL’s mission is for Romania to become a better country for responsible businesses and, in this way, for all Romanians. The foundation’s projects covers three areas that the RBL community considers important for the change and development of the society: entrepreneurship, education and good governance.

Agerpres