Austria claims that negotiations to partially expand Europe's Schengen area to Romania and Bulgaria are still ongoing after Bucharest announced that the three countries had reached a "political" agreement, AFP reported.
Romania and Bulgaria, which have been members of the EU since 2007, were rejected at the end of 2022 by Austria from the vast zone within which more than 400 million people can travel freely without internal border controls.
However, on December 27, the Romanian Ministry of the Interior announced that a "political agreement" had been reached between the three countries to expand the zone "up to the air and sea borders" of Romania and Bulgaria "from March 2024."
Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov also welcomed the agreement and confirmed that an "agreement in principle" had been reached with Vienna.
But Austria's interior ministry said "air Schengen negotiations for Bulgaria and Romania are currently ongoing", stopping short of confirming any agreement.
The ministry reiterated the conditions that would have to be met in exchange for a partial "air Schengen", which included strengthening the EU's external borders.
In addition, according to him, checks on the land borders will have to be strengthened, and Romania and Bulgaria must be ready to "accept persons seeking asylum - especially from Afghanistan and Syria".
The ministry also stressed that "there are currently no negotiations" to open land borders.
A year ago, Austria vetoed both countries' entry, citing fears of an influx of asylum seekers if the Schengen area were to expand.
Earlier this month, Vienna proposed the so-called air Schengen, saying it is willing to ease rules governing air traffic for Bulgaria and Romania if Brussels strengthens the EU's external borders.
The Schengen area was created in 1985 and includes 23 of the 27 EU member states, as well as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein./BGNES
