Blow for Romania and Bulgaria! On April 1st, the first day since the two countries entered the Schengen area, Vienna defies Bucharest and Sofia. This is what happened at the borders.
Blow for Romania and Bulgaria
On April 1, on the first working day after Bulgaria and Romania entered the Schengen area with air and sea borders, a journalist from the Bulgarian publication 24CHASA made a short trip to Vienna.
At the airport in the Austrian capital, despite the agreement, the authorities carry out more thorough checks, especially for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens.
Romania and Bulgaria waited 13 years to be able to fly without checking passports in the free movement area of Europe. And Austria was the reason for this delay.
The “Schengen” effect is evident, at least at Sofia Airport. The whole process, from the baggage check-in counter to the security check and exit to the flight to Vienna, took only seven minutes. Although passport control counters are still present, passengers actually walk past them. The first queue was when boarding the plane, where boarding cards and personal documents are checked.
Compared to the “pre-Schengen” period, it can take around 25 minutes to travel the same route with the same number of passengers. The afternoon flight took off at 14:10 from Sofia and landed in Vienna at 14:50 local time.
Austria carries out controls at Schengen terminals
The Austrian authorities, however, seemed not to have fully understood that we had already been in the Schengen area for 24 hours. Thus, a check of the passports of those who traveled from Bulgaria followed. Although there were no counters, two police officers were at the entrance to the exit corridor, holding a piece of paper that said it was for Schengen passengers.
While this paper was on display, the Austrian police were conducting cursory checks of our documents. Although the check-in was quick – about five to six minutes for everyone – there was a queue. However, Vienna opened its doors to us, the Bulgarian journalist wrote.
It is true that Austria has retained the right to carry out such ad hoc document checks for those arriving from Bulgaria and Romania as part of the conditions set by Vienna to completely waive the veto. After our arrival with the express train, which ensures the direct connection between the airport and the city center, we arrived at Stephansplatz, in front of the cathedral “St. Stephen” in Vienna, the cited material also shows.
A Romanian MEP experienced it personally
MEP Vlad Gheorghe also spoke about this topic. He says he was checked in person at the Paris airport.
He also received messages from many other Romanians who went through similar situations in Germany or Austria.
“Honestly, I was expecting something like this, although I was hoping it wouldn’t happen. I had already received, during the day, messages from Romanians who had experienced the same thing at other airports. It seems to me that it was a coordinated action in several countries.
I also received these messages regarding airports in Germany or Austria, with the fact that, upon disembarking from the aircraft, there were security filters where the passports of the passengers were checked. I emphasize the fact that it was not a control that randomly took passengers.
The problem is that all the passengers were checked, there was that control team composed of at least five policemen only on the plane coming from Romania.
And when I asked them what other planes they were checking, they said they were checking everywhere, but they wouldn’t tell me which plane they were going to next. (…)
It is a clear proof that only Romanian and Bulgarian planes were checked. I repeat, it was not an alternative control, the passengers were not taken randomly, but all of them, just as if we had passed through the border checks”, explained the MEP.
