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Romania recalls Austria envoy after Schengen veto

Romania on Friday recalled its ambassador to Austria, a day after Vienna sparked anger by vetoing Bucharest's bid to join the Schengen zone free of border checks.

Published: 9 December 2022 15:46 CET

Romania recalls Austria envoy after Schengen veto

An Austrian border policeman gestures at the Austro-Hungarian border in Nickelsdorf, Austria, near Hegyeshalom, Hungary on March 2,2020. (Photo by Joe Klamar / AFP)

The Eastern European country with a population of 19 million joined the European Union in 2007 and had high hopes of integration into the vast zone of free movement after waiting for more than 10 years.

On Friday, Romania’s foreign ministry said diplomat Emil Hurezeanu “has been recalled [to Bucharest] for consultations”. It was a “political gesture” indicating “a decision to decrease the current level of relations” with Austria, the ministry said.

READ ALSO: ‘A stupid prank’?: Why has Austria vetoed enlargement of Schengen area?

Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca had expressed “deep disappointment” over Austria’s decision to block the country’s decade-plus long bid.

Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu then summoned Austria’s ambassador to protest what he called “an unjustified and unfriendly attitude” which would have “consequences on bilateral relations”.

Austria thwarted the hopes of both Bucharest and Sofia, justifying the vetoes over an influx of asylum seekers that it said could grow if the Schengen zone expanded.

Bucharest said Vienna’s stance was based on “incorrect” figures, since migratory flows “do not pass through Romania”.

Meanwhile, calls to boycott Austrian companies have grown louder, with Romania’s tourism ministry saying skiing holidays should be taken in destinations such as France, rather than Austria.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What happens if you overstay your 90-day limit in Austria?

A demonstration is also planned in the Romanian capital.

As a leading economic trading partner, Austria represents “the second largest foreign investor” in Romania, the foreign ministry said.

A large amount of Romanian citizens and businesses have Austrian bank accounts. Austrian oil and gas group OMV as well as HS Timber also have a big presence in Romania.

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Austria joins countries calling for asylum centres outside EU

The letter, sent to the European Commission on Thursday, comes less than a month before European Parliament elections, in which far-right anti-immigration parties are forecast to make gains.

The letter asks the European Union’s executive arm to “propose new ways and solutions to prevent irregular migration to Europe”.

The group includes Italy and Greece, which receive a substantial number of the people making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach the EU — many seeking to escape poverty, war or persecution, according to the International Organization for Migration.

They want the EU to toughen up its recently adopted asylum pact, which introduces tighter controls on those seeking to enter the 27-nation bloc.
That reform includes speedier vetting of people arriving without documents, new border detention centres and faster deportation for rejected asylum applicants.

The 15 proposed in their letter the introduction of “mechanisms… aimed at detecting, intercepting — or in cases of distress, rescuing — migrants on the high seas and bringing them to a predetermined place of safety in a partner country outside the EU, where durable solutions for those migrants could be found”.

They said it should be easier to send asylum seekers to third countries while their requests for protection are assessed.

They cited the example of a controversial deal that Italy has struck with non-EU Albania, under which Rome can send thousands of asylum seekers plucked from Italian waters to holding camps in the Balkan country until their cases are processed.

The concept in EU asylum law of what constitutes “safe third countries” should be reassessed, they continued.

Safe country debate

EU law stipulates that people arriving in the bloc without documents can be sent to a third country, where they could have requested asylum — so long as that country is deemed safe and the applicant has a genuine link with it.

That would exclude schemes like the divisive law passed by the UK, which has now left the EU, enabling London to refuse all irregular arrivals the right to request asylum and send them to Rwanda.

Rights groups accuse the African country — ruled with an iron fist by President Paul Kagame since the end of the 1994 genocide that killed around 800,000 people — of cracking down on free speech and political opposition.

The 15 nations said they wanted the EU to make deals with third countries along the main migration routes, citing the example of the arrangement it made with Turkey in 2016 to take in Syrian refugees from the war in their home country.

The letter was signed by Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania.

It was not signed by Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban has resisted EU plans to share out responsibility across the bloc for hosting asylum seekers, or to contribute to the costs of that plan.

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