The PSD MEP Victor Negrescu presented, in the Commission for Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament, the report defining the obligation of the principle of loyal cooperation in the European decision-making process, requesting the legal justification of all vetoes, including the one applied by the Austrian government regarding Romania’s accession in the Schengen area, the postponement of decisions by the Council is limited and a special and simplified legislative procedure is proposed when the inter-institutional mechanisms are not functional.
Schengen areaPhoto: Karaboux / Dreamstime.com
“There are several cases at the European level in which the Council did not respect the principle of loyal cooperation presented in the European treaties and in which it blocked the European decision-making process, including by applying some legally unjustified vetoes. Through this report, the European Parliament seeks to clarify these aspects from a legal point of view in such a way that, in the context of the discussions regarding Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, a new vote within the Council of Justice and Internal Affairs and a possible attack on the Court of Justice of the European Union, that there are additional legal arguments in favor of our country’s goal of entering the free movement zone. The report requests that the positions of the member states at the time of the adoption of an act by the Council be presented publicly and that the obligation of a mandatory legal justification be introduced, in all cases where the member states apply the right of veto on a certain decision, explained Victor Negrescu, according to a press release.
Austria vetoed Romania’s accession to Schengen in December 2022. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu recently announced that the Government will sue Austria at the CJEU if it opposes the next vote in the JHA Council to welcome our country into the free movement area.
After the Prime Minister’s announcement, President Klaus Iohannis declared that the possibility of suing Austria, if it again opposes Romania’s accession to Schengen, “must be very carefully analyzed.”
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