Austria is finally considering lifting its veto on Romania and Bulgaria joining Schengen, allowing free movement across their borders and the rest of continental Europe.
Discussions have begun in Brussels following calls from Austria’s EU Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner, for both countries to become full members. Austria has been blocking their full memberships, not allowing them to come into the Schengen invisible border zone for the last two years and so guaranteeing them some level of free movement.
The change in direction at this particular moment in history comes as contradictory to recent rhetoric coming from Austria, Italy, and Germany regarding how the Schengen free movement of people may be partly to blame for an apparent flood of undocumented immigrants arriving in central Europe from weaker points in the Eastern Schengen borders.
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Bulgaria & Romania’s entry in Schengen may be strategic
However, some political pundits are suggesting that this may be a strategic political move aimed at more partnership between EU members for strengthening external borders together.
Just one year ago (2023), the gripe of Austrians was that too many illegal immigrants were entering from the Eastern flanks of the Balkans, and for this reason they did not want to ratify an agreement to allow Bulgaria and Romania to become fully-fledged members of the EU and join the Schengen area.
Meanwhile, Romania’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, has said he believes Romania could fully enter the Schengen area by spring 2025, with a decision made before the second round of presidential elections in December.
Tags: Romania and Bulgaria’s entry into the Schengen Zone
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Publish date : 2024-11-09 09:30:00
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