Some 20,000 migrants who arrived illegally in Austria passed through Romania, and the Romanian Police know about this because they registered them, the Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer, claimed on December 15 before the meeting of the European Council in Brussels, Cursdeguvernare.ro reported. However, the Romanian Police have never confirmed such figures.

The Romanian Police may, admittedly, not be the ultimate proof that facts didn't exist. Geography is, though. Since 1918, Romania has had no border with Austria (Austria-Hungary, at that time), and most likely, Nehammer was referring, this time, to more recent periods.

Hungary, a full-fledged Schengen country with migrant-proof Schengen borders and Schengen-standard Police, should have seen at least part of the 20,000. But Hungary (much like the Romanian Police) never mentioned the flow of migrants coming from Romania; it built a fence towards Serbia and Croatia, though.

Interestingly, Nehammer hasn't said whether some of the 75,000 migrants in Vienna crossed Serbia or Croatia but mentioned the idea of a fence.

In any case, Austria's officials remain open to helping Romania with the migration problem it is not even aware of (hence posing a much higher threat).

"Austria's position is to support Bulgaria and Romania. It's not about one country against another country. But you must know that in Austria, we have more than 75,000 migrants. And we know from Austrian police investigations that 20,000 illegal migrants passed through Romania. And we have to find a solution," Chancellor Karl Nehammer said.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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