Romania Planning to Block Austria From Taking Over OSCE Chairmanship in Schengen Veto Revenge
While no official has openly confirmed that Romanian authorities have such a plan, according to a report by G4media, the President of Romania’s governing Social Democratic Party (PSD), Marcel Ciolacu, has hinted that Romania may block Austria from taking over the leadership of the OSCE.
“We must not create a rift between Romanians and Austrians. I repeat, [the vote against Romania] is a decision of some temporary political leaders who now rule Austria. Our response must be commensurate. They have used their right to veto. Romania, at this moment, has an obligation to do the same,” President Ciolacu is cited to have said.
He also is quoted to have said that even if a diplomatic solution is found before the voting, until then, Romania has the right to veto Austria in any process, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
The OSCE is an organization that consists of 57 world countries, the representatives of which play an active role in the stabilization of the situation in conflict and peace-fragile regions in the world. Its chairmanship is appointed through negotiation between the member countries and requires consensus.
On December 8, the Council of the EU unanimously approved Croatia’s accession into the Schengen Area. However, the accession of Romania and Bulgaria has been postponed due to vetoes imposed by some countries, including here Austria.
Upon the voting, the Austrian Federal Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, had stated that Austria could not support the expansion of the Schengen Area due to the high number of migrants reaching its territory.
“We need more time. At the moment, we have 75,000 unregistered illegal migrants in Austria – meaning they have crossed an external EU border and made it to Austria. This needs to be solved first,” the Chancellor said.
The situation has left many unhappy, including here Romanian politicians and business leaders, who have been looking into possible forms of retaliating the move to Austria. George Simion, the leader of the far-right nationalist AUR party, has even encouraged Romanian citizens to boycott companies controlled by Austrian shareholders and replace them with Romanian ones.
At the same time, several companies under the Ministry of Transportation have decided to move their accounts from BCR, which is controlled by the Austrian bank Erste, to CEC Bank.
