Austria, which so far opposed Romania's accession to the Schengen agreement because of illegal migration, now invokes a new reason: "pressure and bad treatment" towards Austrian companies in Romania, according to MEP Rareș Bogdan, who is in Vienna, along with other Romanian MEPs trying to explain the Austrian authorities what all the expert missions sent to evaluate Romania's Schengen readiness already found out.

"They gave up on it (the illegal migrants' issue), and now they are talking about pressure and bad treatment of Austrian companies in Romania," MEP Bogdan told local news channel Digi24, according to Profit.ro.

However, the Austrian minister of interior, Gerhard Karner, reaffirmed, on the public radio station ORF, his country's decision to veto the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area, due to the increase in illegal migration this year, Profit.ro also reported.

All the other 25 EU countries have expressed support for Romania's Schengen membership. The Justice and Home Affairs Council tabled the expansion of the Schengen area with three new countries, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, for its December 8-9 meeting. 

andrei@romania-insider.com

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