President Klaus Iohannis said that the Austrian negative vote in the JHA Council is undeserved and incomprehensible
President Klaus Iohannis said, last evening, in his first public address, after the denial of Romania joining the Schengen Area, that the Austrian vote in The Justice and Home Affairs Council is undeserved and incomprehensible. The chief of state reminded that, on November the 16th, all European internal ministers said that Romania and Bulgaria are welcomed in the Schengen Area but that, only two days later, the Austrian one said that his country cannot accept the expansion of that area. Klaus Iohannis said that all diplomatic ways must be continued, to join the free movement area, and that he will personally get involved.
Klaus Iohannis: This vote, even if upsetting and disappointing, doesn’t make me step back. And, personally, I will stay connected to the issue and I am determined to take things further, until Romania becomes a member stat of Schengen Area. On Wednesday and Thursday, probably on Friday too, we will hold a meeting of the European Council and, for certain, we will raise this issue at the European Council. But a new vote will only take place when the JHA Council reunites.
The number of confirmed COVID cases is rising
The number of COVID confirmed cases is rising. Almost 3,000 new cases have been registered in the last week, almost 1,000 more than in the previous interval. The health minister said that almost 850 of the cases determined last week are patients tested positive more than three months since the last infection. 748 people have been hospitalized with COVID, 100 of which in intensive care units. 49 children receive treatments in hospital for COVID.
The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu met the federal Austrian minister for European and international affairs, Alexander Schallenberg
Bogdan Aurescu, the Romanian minister for foreign affairs, met, yesterday, in Brussels, with the federal Austrian minister for European and international affairs, Alexander Schallenberg, at the request of the Austrian part.
According to a declaration of the Foreign Minister, the discussion focused on Romania joining the Schengen area, after the negative vote expressed by Vienna at the recent meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. On this occasion, Bogdan Aurescu mentioned that Bucharest will use all available ways to unlock the situation and added that a constructive solution needed to be found. The Romanian minister said that Austria needed to reconsider its position and to have a cooperative attitude. He indicated again that information held by the Austrian part referring to a possible involvement of our country in the flux of illegal migration to Austria does not match in any way the statistics of the European agencies that deal with borders. The Austrian part mentioned that it agrees to the plan proposed by the European Commission regarding migration, that is sees as a first step. The Austrian representative added that he waits for new proposals from de executive from Brussels.
Alexandra Ioniță
