A delegation from the Romanian Parliament came to Vienna yesterday to hold talks on overcoming the Austrian blockade on Romania’s Schengen accession. “We want to find out whether we still have a reliable partner in Austria and whether it will be possible to draw up a timetable,” said the head of the delegation, ex-Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean.
Corlatean criticized that Austria’s veto once morest Romania’s (and Bulgaria’s) admission to the border-free Schengen area in December last year caused “serious damage”. In addition to negative effects on bilateral relations, Austria’s “unforeseeable” step has domestic political consequences in Romania by fueling anti-European forces. “The Romanians feel humiliated,” and this also has political consequences. “But we don’t want anti-European sentiment to spread in our country,” says Corlatean.
The economic damage for Romania due to the delayed entry into Schengen is also great, and Austrian companies are also affected. “But we don’t want to act emotionally, so we’re trying to engage in constructive dialogue,” Corlatean said.
However, the Romanian politician complained that it was not easy to put together the program for the talks. “We’re not used to seeing such hesitation” in resuming dialogue, Corlatean said. Neither representatives of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs originally wanted to receive the cross-party Romanian delegation.
Yesterday followingnoon, however, a meeting took place with a section chief of the Foreign Ministry. There are also meetings with the chairwoman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Council, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, the Mayor of Vienna Michael Ludwig (both SP), former Federal President Heinz Fischer and representatives of the Romanian community in Vienna.
