Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said today that there must be "visible progress in the field of protecting the external borders of the EU in order to reach the acceptance of Bulgaria and Romania in the air Schengen".
Austria announced its conditions for a "green light" for Schengen and the specific parameters of the compromise reached for our accession by air and sea. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner is urging the European Commission and the European Presidency to create a legal framework for the expansion of the Schengen airspace. The preconditions were agreed between Austria, Bulgaria and Romania and included an expansion of the Frontex mission and enhanced border controls between the two countries.
"Air Schengen" will exist when the necessary conditions are met and categorically set, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in response to a journalist's question about the situation surrounding the Schengen negotiations.
"This means a significant increase in the frontline protection of the EU's external border, especially in Bulgaria, Turkey, but also Romania and Serbia. The land borders will continue to be controlled, especially between Bulgaria and Romania. In addition, both countries must accept people seeking asylum, especially from Afghanistan and Syria. What is air Schengen? Entry through airports. This is not a problem for us because traffickers do not use airports," said Gerhard Karner, Austria's interior minister.
The Austrian conditions for the so-called "air Schengen" envisage an expansion of the Frontex mission and an increase in financial resources from the EC for the stable protection of the external borders. Austria insists that these conditions be formalized in an official document.
"In other words, after this political compromise that was announced recently, the European Commission now has the task of preparing a binding legal text. It sounds very technocratic, but it is necessary, because otherwise everything can be written," said Gerhard Karner, quoted by BNT.
At the moment, there are no negotiations on "land Schengen" and there is no set end date, the Austrian interior ministry emphasizes.
Yesterday, the authorities in Sofia and Bucharest announced the achievement of a political agreement with Vienna on the expansion of the Schengen area by air and sea in March next year. In Austria itself, the moods are on both poles - the extreme right believes that the rulers irresponsibly open the door to Schengen, and the left opposition wants the exact opposite - that Bulgaria and Romania are in the free movement zone, and that is exactly what the Austrians need, giving the example of Bulgarian and Romanian caregivers who do not travel by plane. /BGNES
