The New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS) party, from the European family of Save Romania Union (USR), supports Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area, announces USR, according to Agerpres.

The leader of NEOS, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, called on the Austrian Government to withdraw its decision to oppose Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area and pointed out that the Austrian People’s Party (OVP), the party in power in Austria, „endangers with this decision the very essence of the European project: freedom,” says the cited source.

„Austria single-handedly limits the freedoms of EU citizens. The federal government should analyse very carefully who our allies are. The formation of a Nehammer – Orban – Vucic axis and the alienation of Romania, Bulgaria and the rest of the EU countries is not in Austria’s interest,” said Beate Meinl-Reisinger, according to USR.

Moreover, NEOS MEP Claudia Gamon showed that Romania and Bulgaria have met the Schengen accession criteria since 2011.

„A country’s accession to the Schengen Area does not depend on the provisions and the temporary situation of the OVP, but on certain strictly technical criteria. It is time for their non-acceptance in Schengen to end,” specified Claudia Gamon, as quoted by USR.

Agerpres