Iohannis: The Schengen almost doesn’t exist anymore. We want to enter into an agreement that no longer works

President Klaus Iohannis says that Austria’s arguments for blocking the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Area do not stand, since it has accepted the accession of Croatia. On the other hand, Iohannis says that the Schengen agreement “almost doesn’t exist anymore” as several countries have closed their borders due to migration.

Iohannis said that Romania will continue discussions with the EU member states to unlock the accession to the free movement area.

“Sure, it’s a bit depressing to hear from Vienna the same broken record. The same text, given that Romania performs very well in stopping illegal migrants”, said Klaus Iohannis, in Brussels. “We continue on the diplomatic line, but this dialogue is becoming more and more strange in the conditions in which Austria says every time that it has nothing against Romania or Bulgaria, but opposes the expansion of the Schengen Area, in the conditions in which it approved exactly in the same meeting the accession of Croatia. So the arguments are at least transparent”, the Romanian president stated.

On the other hand, he added that “the reality is that the Schengen Area no longer works and almost does not exist anymore.”

“Because of the migration, which is quite important, many states have closed their borders. Even in our area, in the east of the Union, several border closures have appeared successively. Someone might find that we want to enter an agreement that no longer works. It’s a question we have to ask ourselves and the discussion on Schengen is older. The fact that Schengen has problems is known for a long time and, on the one hand, there is a desire to modernize the Schengen agreement, on the other hand, there are some who oppose anything, including extension,” said Iohannis.

He added that for many years he has discussed this topic with European leaders and told them that Romania “would become a strong point” for the Schengen area, which would become safer and stronger by Romania’s accession.

Asked if Romania should complain to the Court of Justice of the European Union on this subject, Iohannis replied: “It is a very complicated legal matter. I did not meet two lawyers to have the same point of view. ”

No later than yesterday, Karl Nehammer, the chancellor of Austria, reiterated that the Schengen extension is currently “unthinkable” in his country’s view, saying that it has nothing to do with Bulgaria and Romania.