The backlash could not have been much swifter.
The day after Austria and Netherlands decided to block the Schengen applications of Romania and Bulgaria, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had summoned its Ambassador to Vienna, Emil Hurezeanu.
Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, described the Austrian veto as ‘”inexplicable, regrettable and unjustified”, adding that it was “profoundly unfair for our country and Romanian citizens”.
Ahead of the vote at yesterday’s meeting of EU home affairs ministers, both countries had hinted at retaliatory measures should their applications be blocked.
Despite the fact that both the European Commission and the European Parliament had been clear that both countries had met the criteria for Schengen membership, the latter describing their exclusion as ‘discriminatory’, Austrian and Dutch vetoes did not come as a surprise to those of us in the Brussels bubble.
Even so, it is still a major slap in the face.
The two countries appear to be the victims of national politics and migration. The number of people crossing the Western Balkan route has increased by 168% compared to the same period in 2021.
The EU’s borderless Schengen area is the world’s largest free travel zone and is typically hailed as one of the major achievements of European integration. It poses problems for the EU’s future if countries can meet all the criteria yet still be denied membership.
This threatens to open up another major diplomatic rift within the EU when the bloc could use more unity. Russia’s war in Ukraine shows no sign of abating, and with it, the major economic effects that all Europeans are struggling to cope with.
Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson has insisted that the EU executive will not give up and that she hopes that Romania and Bulgaria will join Schengen before the next European elections in May 2024. However, it is not apparent what the Commission – or, for that matter, Bulgaria and Romania – can do to assuage the fears of their EU neighbours.
As we saw earlier this week when Hungary blocked €18 billion of financial aid for Ukraine as a tit for tat for the European Commission refusing to unblock billions of euros in post-pandemic recovery funds, there are no winners from such political stand-offs.
The EU, and the individual member states involved, would do well to solve this dispute before it gets out of hand.
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The Roundup
Alphabet unit Google must remove data from online search results if users can prove it is inaccurate, Europe’s top court said on Thursday.
The European Commission is rolling out digital product passports as a way of informing consumers about the environmental impact of their purchases. Can they be a silver bullet to cut waste and boost recycling?
The EU and South Korea should cooperate in their response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), EURACTIV, South Korean Trade Minister Dukgeun Ahn argued in an interview with EURACTIV but also warned the EU not to open “Pandora’s box” of protectionist industrial policy.
The European Commission on Friday (9 December) officially launched the EU’s solar photovoltaic industry alliance, with the aim of regaining production lost to China and establishing a ‘Made in Europe’ industry.
Public policy must be at the core of projects to develop smart villages in the EU, MEP Franc Bogovič said, as an initiative on the EU’s long-term rural prospects moves forward.
Twenty years after their first free trade agreement concluded, the Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonia Urrejola came to Brussels on Friday (9 December) to conclude negotiations on a new, more far-reaching “Advanced Framework Agreement” that slashes most tariffs between the EU and Chile.
The new compromise text on the Data Act, circulated on Thursday (8 December) and seen by EURACTIV, introduces significant changes to the part intended to facilitate the switching from one cloud provider to the other.
And finally, check out our Tech and Agrifood briefs.
Look out for…
- COREPER I and II Meetings
- Foreign Affairs Council chaired by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell
Views are the author’s.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald/Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
