Romania to sue Austria for vetoing its bid to join border-free zone

Romanian premier Marcel Ciolacu has said he will take Austria to court to demand several billion euros as compensation for damages caused by Vienna vetoing his country’s accession to Europe’s border-free travel zone.

The Austrian government has opposed the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the so-called Schengen area over concerns relating to corruption and inadequate border controls, despite the European Commission and other EU capitals backing the move. The two countries joined the EU in 2007 and were originally scheduled to enter the border-free zone in 2010.

Speaking to the Austrian daily Der Standard, Ciolacu said Romania had lost as much as 2 per cent of its economic output because of its prolonged wait to join the visa-free zone. He said he would try to recover a “sufficient” amount in damages. Romania’s gross domestic product was €286bn last year.

A spokesperson for Austria’s foreign ministry dismissed the Romanian threat. “We take a relaxed view,” they said about the potential legal action.

The country had the highest number per capita of asylum applications in the bloc last year. Three quarters of them were from individuals not previously registered as having entered another Schengen member state, despite Austria being surrounded by Schengen states.

“Clearly, there is a security issue and we need a shift in the EU mindset on illegal migration. We have therefore sent a wake-up call to Brussels by not agreeing to enlarge this dysfunctional system,” the ministry said.

“What we need now is a clear and sustained reduction in numbers. Until then, specifying a concrete date for Schengen enlargement would not be appropriate.”

Last year, ahead of an EU summit that decided in favour of Croatia, but not Romania or Bulgaria, joining Schengen, Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer informed Bucharest only a few days before that he would oppose the move, Ciolacu said. “This led to frustration [in Romania],” he said.

Ciolacu dismissed Nehammer’s claims that a surge in migration to Austria could be traced back to Romania not controlling its borders. “It’s not true . . . we have set up joint patrols with Serbia to eliminate this topic.”

“The worst is the fact that Austria is creating a precedent,” Ciolacu said. “Member states usually follow the recommendations of EU institutions,” he said in reference to repeated clean bills of health from the commission that his country was ready to join Schengen. He said his government would try to keep the Schengen accession issue on the agenda of EU meetings later this year.

The Romanian premier said Austria’s move sent a bad message at a time when Europe was facing challenges in keeping a unified front in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“You cannot claim security at the European level and expect that together with Romania and other EU member states you will . . . financially strive to strengthen European defence, but at the same time deny Romania a right fundamental as accession to Schengen,” he said.

Domestic politics might have played a part in the decision of Austria, where the chancellor’s conservative Austria People’s party is facing elections next year and the anti-immigration hard-right Freedom party has consistently been the most popular in the polls for about a year.

The Freedom party’s increased chances of returning to power have prompted a warning from Peter Gridling, Austria’s longest-serving spymaster, who told the FT this week the party still had active ties to Russia.

Austria’s president Alexander Van der Bellen has repeatedly criticised his government’s stance, saying Romania and Bulgaria were ready for Schengen membership.

“Romania and Bulgaria meet the criteria for Schengen membership. I’m concerned about Austria’s reputation with our European partners,” Van der Bellen said in March.