Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Friday regretted the veto imposed by Austria and the Netherlands on the access of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area, a rejection expressed by the government headed by Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
In this regard, he stressed that although Austria suffers a strong migration crisis, «do not understand how vetoing the access of these countries to the Schengen area will change the situation» for Vienna, as indicated in a message on his Twitter account.
Thus, he said he «deeply regrets» what happened and asserted that the decision only «increases resentment at the European level», as reported by the newspaper ‘Die Presse’. In this sense, he warned that the Austrian economy «will have to pay a price for this decision».
«This will affect tourism at the national level and will cause fewer Romanians to arrive,» he said before emphasizing that Austria has numerous investments in the country. «We will see how consumers react to this,» he continued. «In my opinion it is inevitable that there will be a price to pay at the economic level,» he said.
For her part, Justice Minister Alma Zadig of the Greens insisted that her party does not support the veto imposed on the admission of these countries to the Schengen area, a decision that has been harshly criticized by the governments concerned.
Nehammer, for his part, has stated that Vienna has blocked the measure because of the «insufficient measures» taken by these two countries in curbing the migratory flow to third countries, such as Austria. «Undocumented migrants represent a security threat both within Austria and for the entire EU,» he said.
The confirmation of the refusal to allow the entry of Bulgaria and Romania came after nearly five hours of debate, during which an attempt was made to resolve the deadlock during a recess for bilateral negotiations after a first debate in which the intention to veto became clear.
