Austria will wait for the results of the opening of the Schengen zone with Bulgaria and Romania by air and sea, and only then will it think about opening the land borders, said Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, ahead of the meeting of relevant ministers to be held. today in Brussels, the Bulgarian National Assembly. Radio reports on March 4.
After long negotiations with Sofia and Bucharest, we reached a compromise at the end of last year, but we still do not know how Schengen will work from the end of March, Carner explained. Anything else would be hasty and counterproductive.
The European Commission insists that Austria stop blocking the two countries’ inclusion in the Schengen area and by land.
The Vienna conditions include both countries accepting back registered refugees currently living in Austria, as well as ensuring security at the EU’s external borders and additional officials from the Frontex border agency.
Carner also said the EU should allow the extradition of migrants without asylum in Afghanistan and Syria.
“Almost two-thirds of the applications for status in our country come from citizens of these two countries,” says Carner, spokesperson for the conservative Popular Party. The coalition partner, the Greens, immediately denied that the Minister of the Interior had not expressed the government’s position. Parliamentary elections will be held in Austria this year. The far-right Freedom Party clearly leads the polls.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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