One of the main goals, justifying the alliance of the “Denkov-Gabriel” cabinet, may soon be unachievable. Bulgaria will hardly get into the Schengen area this summer or at the beginning of the next year. This became clear from the words of Austrian Minister Gerhard Karner, quoted by BTA.
The red flag for Bulgaria from Austria was given during the press conference of Karner and his Romanian colleague Cătălin Predoiu in Vienna.
“Our position is that the Schengen system is not functioning properly, so we don’t dare to expand it. There are checks at the border. The system as a whole is not working, at this point, it is not appropriate to expand the Schengen area,” Karner said.
Bulgaria and Romania expect to enter the visa-free zone together. Until now, the EP and the EC have called on the member states to approve the expansion of the union several times, but the Netherlands and Austria are against the decision, which must be taken by majority vote.
During the press conference, the Romanian interior minister stated for his part that “Austria does not have a problem with Romania”.
“The Romanian police are doing their job and we are ready to continue this work together,” he added.