Austria officially announces through Gerhard Karner that there are intense negotiations, and many disputes regarding the decisions that will be taken in the next few hours, or tomorrow, regarding the Schengen Area and the future of the European Union, and Romania will be substantially affected by what will happen in Luxembourg.
Austria wants tough measures, together with the Netherlands, against migrants arriving in the European Union, while Germany warns that the Schengen Area could become history without a consensus on the reform of the asylum system, the contradictions between the countries seriously jeopardizing a possible solution fair for Europeans.
Austria has already started, for some time, to take its own measures for the Schengen Area, and this in the conditions where not enough has been done at the EU level, according to what Karner and Nehammer said, but the decisions that will be taken today and tomorrow, they will have a major impact on the possible accession of Romania to Schengen, also in 2023.
"From the beginning of the deliberations, it was a hard fight. The last few meters of a journey are often the hardest and most difficult, so I expect intense negotiations. Faster, stricter and therefore fairer procedures are needed at the EU's external borders.
Austria and the Netherlands made it clear at the meeting that some of the planned rules for a more effective fight against illegal migration do not go far enough for them. I fear that if we don't get a common asylum system, we will go back to nationalism. We now need a constructive approach from all EU countries and a decision as soon as possible, ideally this Thursday."
