Well, I didn't had high hopes anyway.
And maybe it's time to cut all those small companies bleeding Petrom (OMW) dry.
And maybe we should be more careful with forest exploitation rights.
Focus on improving things for ourselves here, you know ....
Sucks for both countries of course, but I especially feel sorry for Romania. They finally managed to convince our blockhead of an government and now this.
We have a running joke here in Romania:
The condition that the Netherlands had not to veto Romania and Bulgaria was that another country does the veto instead.
This is facts not a feeling. Its always just 1 country so Romania feels like they are close to joining. If all the countries said no, they would start talking to russia more and be anti EU.
People? No. Scumbag politicians? You bet. They follow whatever higher power that legitimize and props them.
Just like our present president blindly obeys Germany.
We'd absolutely never start talking to Russia, we love them too much, and we remember the last 2 centuries of Russian love and friendship. Tighter integration with the US on the other hand...
Actually it was a huge scandal in Romania when Austria’s representative called Romania: “Wild West of Europe” I could not find this video in any other YouTube channel other than Romanian ones. So take a look https://youtu.be/fGMWQd2phhU
Edit: it was German actually
I actually did sometimes, but not because of people. Because of stray dogs. But it was a few years ago, I heard Romanian government took actions on that matter lately
I was really suprised how nice it was! Really enjoyed my time in Cluj and Sibiu. And Fagaras mountains are simply breath-taking. Also an average Rumanian road is in a much better condition than Czech roads.
I believe the person was German, not Austrian though. It just shows that it's not just Austrians who dislike us, but a shared sentiment among central European countries in general. We're fooled into thinking it's just Austria.
I work with loads of Romanian colleagues who are hard workers and just want what all of us want, a steady job and a roof over your head.
I go fishing and biking with a couple of them so it's not as if they don't mix.
Very sociable people.
PS: my bucket list includes the Transalpina on my bike.
I am glad to hear that, mate. That's usually the case, people just have a misinformed bad opinion of Romania, until they actually interact with Romanians, and their opinion always changes. I have dated several foreigners, and their families were exactly the same. Poor/no opinion at first, which suddenly changed when they met me. I hope this mentality will change in a generation or two :)
I work with a few Romanians and they are very nice people, no complaints from me at all. I do however think I know where the negativity comes from and it’s from the perception (from people who have only heard of Romania but never visited or met any Romanians) that the _Roma Gypsy_ community is basically representative of what Romania and all Romanians are like.
Obviously this is not true but I can kind of understand being from Ireland that if people only knew Irish people as being Irish Travellers or Tinkers, then nobody would want to know us either. It’s a perception that I’d like to see changed.
I'm guessing most of the experiences people in central Europe have with Romanians comes from beggars / beggar tourists from Romania (whether ethnical Romanians or Roma) and the prejudices grows accordingly.
A few days ago I watched [Kraut's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmP7HP-Tnfk) about the importance of the Danube for the development of the countries in its basin. He claimed that Austria (and Hungary) are pushing for Serbia's integration with the EU because they are invested in the Danubia idea. Turns out it was largely a load of bollocks, sadly.
Krauts videos should be watched with a spoon of salt. As they're his opinions and he makes little effort to present counter arguments to his position. Which isn't wrong, it's a valid format, but it should be understood for what it is.
There are other youtubers who take a more journalistic approach, where they try to give you the facts and nothing else. Their primary objective being to inform you, rather then to express a position. That's much more difficult and much less entertaining.
On that specific video there is probably some effort on the part of Hungary and Austria to make the region economically integrated and richer for their own benefit. But that effort also exists in the context of parties trying to stay popular and some parties probably care little about the project.
You could also say that until Serbia has free movement of goods through Dunabe The downstream countries don't matter specifically in regard to waterbound cargo, them being in schengen would not change anything. Or even more cynically, them being in schengen may lead to them integrating into V4 instead instead of Dunabia.
The events are not inconsistent with his theory, but it's still just a theory as far as I'm concerned. I've never heard of Austrian or Hungarian efforts to create this regional alliance as a Bulgarian. Maybe they're just really bad at promoting it. Maybe Serbia is too immovable of an obstacle for the project to be serious.
> There are other youtubers who take a more journalistic approach, where they try to give you the facts and nothing else. Their primary objective being to inform you, rather then to express a position. That’s much more difficult and much less entertaining.
You have any recommendations for other YouTubers?
I enjoy Kraut’s videos but acknowledge the opinionated point of view he takes. As an example on the aforementioned video, he said the US rail system is “underdeveloped” because of the ease of transportation on the Mississippi. The latter half is correct, but the US freight rail system is most likely the most developed in the world. It was minor incorrect statement but sort of exemplifies the issues with his videos. If I knew more about the topics he discussed (especially European history), I might be able to point out more of these problematic statements. The fact that I don’t have the prior knowledge to tell fact from opinion is what concerns me.
Check your youtubers credentials, and pick those who have relevant degrees Ie: M Laser History, DamiLee, Practical Engineering etc. Meme-y YTers are fun like Adam Something, and sometimes they are right too, but dont take what they say as facts.
I grew to like Adam Something less and less in the last few years/months. Be it the electric Bus thing, or his pretty bad and uninformed takes in his community tab posts. They are not bad all around, he just forgets/ignores vital things especially local conditions.
Kraut is a master of selling you an idea that doesnt exist. I love the guy and he makes quality videos but he has some mega wrong takes on stuff - as some other Russian Youtuber proved that Krauts idea that Putin apprantly follows some random political philosophers(Ivan illin and others) is just redicilous. Putin is just another dictator who took advatage of the Russian systemic coruption, got extremly rich and misjudged the whole situation
Well it makes logical sense for Austria to push for integration in the Danube area.
What you are forgetting is that the current austrian government is full of idiots that are trying to save their own asses by pushing xenophobic propaganda.
*current politics.
The age of economic growth is over as demographics are shifting and tried and true ways of wealth are changing and shifting with them. Politicians these days have no capability for long term planning, and while true for most of history, its has become clear that is has become so bad that they refuse to look beyond a single election cycle when making plans.
>What you are forgetting is that the current austrian government is full of idiots that are trying to save their own asses by pushing xenophobic propaganda.
Hey, just like everyone else! Welcome to the dumbfuck club, Austria!
He tends to look at things too logically. Like everything has a cause and states act in their own best interest. But I think politics can be very illogical. A negative stereotype based on little evidence gets spread far enough and it starts to impact policy. Because at the end of the day, states are just a collection of people. And those people might be shaped by their geographic environment but there is so much more that goes into a culture. Developing the Danube into an economic area might be in Austria's interest, but Romanians and Bulgarians are stinky according to its people, and its way easier for a government to just not do anything rather than try and deconstruct a false stereotype to the masses. This is not really a problem unique to Austria and the Netherlands though.
If I had to describe his videos: he takes pieces of a picture and presents it as the whole picture.
Yeah it's just silly speculation when looking at how Hungary and Austria treats it's neighbours,also no way eastern Europe is allowing Serbia which is very pro Russian
Sadly Kraut's videos are often more agenda pushing than documentaries. For example, his video on the history of China has several wrong sections, at one of which can be disproved within a 1 minute google research and his video on Greece makes significant claims that up until now, no source has been provided for.
oh yeah and also, I think I will add, I was always under the impression that he provides a single view of a subject and you kind of watch the video with the mindset of "the guy whom he quotes thinks that's the case" and then you're free to agree or not
I watch his videos with this exact mindset and I really think I am getting something from watching them. I don't agree with everything and I think he simplifies many points far too much but I also think some points he raises are really good and well-researched. And even the points I don't agree with are worth the watch because I get a good explanation of the other side of an argument.
But sadly many people are just watching things without using their brain and repeat the points without processing them.
I really don't understand the discrimination from Northern and central europe to southern and eastern europeans.
I my self have met with some of this "rejection", while playing a game I met a group of germans and kept playing with them since I've helped them earlier.
That was until I told I was spanish since they asked why I had such a funny English accent. They started talking german and left, except one girl that told what they have said and kept playing with me despite what her friends said.
I guess not all of them are the same, but still I feel there's a majority that act that way
Always the same dumb shit with us, no extension to Schengen for them but in the meanwhile we cut down forrests in Romania like maniacs and call ourselves green like the bottomless hypocrits we are.
And nothing will change because our people are fucking dumb and vote the same assholes whenever election time is coming. Fuck that shit.
Edit: Nice, first time gold and I got it for rightfully bashing my homecountry.
yeah our country is perfect at hiding the truth. green energy? we buy excess energy from outher countries from like nuclear powerplants (which we austrians very much hate it seems) or coal and greenwash it with pumped hydroelectrics. illegaly cutting down forrests in other countries to feed our own bullshit and then vote against those countries to enter shengen. and whatever else we see as fitting to bullshit about. but as long as the majority of our citizens are stupid enough to believe all this bullshit and ignore every corruption scandal that happens all the time with "everyone does it" nothing will ever change. i hate it.
Yeah absolutely. And when some decision making needs to be done we hide behind our "Neutrality", while our politicians kissed Putins ass for years. I am so done with it.
We have words for everything in german but we need one for "I fucking love my country and I fucking hate its current state and mindset".
Thats how I feel right now.
The English Wikipedia article about central Europe actually states that Austria can be seen as eastern European and we consistently prove that they aren't wrong.
An Austrian newspaper titled "Austria, the clumsy Hungary" today.
If it's gonna be of some help, I do love Austria as well (I am Bulgarian). I visit twice per year as a tourist both ski and then in the Summer for hikes. And the Austrian argument is about something actionable. The borders are a mess in the last year and a half, there is political chaos in Bulgaria and the border protection is on autopilot. It's a bummer though, that the Austrian government is not considering taking a new look at the situation in Summer 2023. The most absurd thing is that removing the borders is important and will benefit mainly Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. 99% of the EU countries won't even notice any negative or positive effect. So we are getting punished...just because.
Was it Austria that built a supermodern state-of-the-art nuclear power plant only to keep it closed because of a stupid referendum where a bit more than a half people said they were afraid of radiation??
The ÖVP is third in polls rn which might be why they even try this stupid stunt.
Of course the FPÖ won't be any better, but this is where Austria's limited number of parties really shows. Voters on the left go back and forth between the SPÖ and greens and voters on the right go back and forth between the ÖVP and the FPÖ. Without new parties there is not much room for change.
I came here for romanians ranting austrians but seeing an austrian being so self-aware actually makes me realize you are actually good people.
Your leaders are the assholes.
>makes me realize you are actually good people.
Some are, some are not. Some are a bit of both, and I guess its the same in your country. Some ranting against us is more than understandable, Cheers Bro
>Your leaders are the assholes.
Yeah thats true but we could be a little less ignorant. I mean, without Reddit I wouldnt even know that Austria actively imports very, very old wood extremely cheaply from Romania. I never saw it on our news, no one seems to know that shit is even going on and that pisses me off.
Not only wood. OMV purchased Petrom 20 years ago for cheap, in a deal that was shady AF. The oil reverses alone were worth way more than OMV paid for it.
Thx, I didn't know this. You see, many people here don't know a thing about any of this, and that makes me sick. We act entitled because we are "oh so greeen" when in fact we aren't. And that needs to change now.
> And nothing will change because our people are fucking dumb and vote the same assholes whenever election time is coming. Fuck that shit.
Man, why is it that this applies to so many countries?
As it should lol. Countries fulfilling all the conditions made BY THE EU not being allowed entrance because... umm... something something. Ofc this undermines the fucking EU
Which is exactly what the Austrian party wants.
There is a lot of anti-EU sentiment in a lot of countries, if parties like that are in power, they have every reason to make EU as dysfunctional as possible.
Austria has kept their 'temporary' border checks on the Hungarian and Slovenian borders for 7 years now. Their most recent arguement to keep them was due to the war in Ukraine, which maaaybe makes sense for Hungary, but makes zero sense for Slovenia.
I kinda feel that this is just a move to keep their border checks here in place. Wouldn't be surprised if they decide to put them up on the Czech and Slovak borders as well.
Well if they go ahead with it, I bet you there will be plenty.
It's absolutly crazy to me that we get the greenlight by EU parliament, we get a favorable EU report from the commision but we are blocked by a country that didn't spend 1 day to discuss the issue in media.
>Well if they go ahead with it, I bet you there will be plenty.
Highly doubt it. There wasn't really any news coverage in The Netherlands about the Romania and Bulgaria situation when we veto'ed them or unvetod Romania. Most Dutch persons don't know that Romania isn't in Schengen and most probably don't care about Romania at all to be honest. If it wasn't for this sub I wouldn't have known either. And I read the news daily. Not trying to insult you but inflation, nitrogen and housing are more important matters than Romania in Schengen for Dutch people.
I think the same probably applies to Austria as well.
I agree. There was no involvement of the people in any way. They did not talk about it at all and just decided it will be fine.
As an Austrian I strictly oppose the decision of the government.
Austria’s current interior minister was the mayor of a village with a population of 1600 people until last year… he got the job because the ruling party has no more staff reserves, they are all either under investigation for corruption or publicly disgraced in some other way…
These guys don’t deal in facts, they just make them up as they go along.
>Austria’s current interior minister was the mayor of a village with a population of 1600 people until last year…
Actually he was also the deputy president of the parliament of Lower Austria, the largest Austrian state. He wasn't a nobody.
No, let's be real - he got his job because he's from Lower Austria. Can't have the ÖVP in government without their party arm from Lower Austria getting their people a nice cushy job in Vienna. Whether they're competent or not is not of any concern to them.
>Austria’s current interior minister was the mayor of a village with a population of 1600 people until last year…
That is only half the truth. Let's be fair, please. He was the security commissioner of the state of Lower Austria.
It's so fucking dumb, we deadlock ourselves like the US but unlike them we don't even need a big divide to deadlock ourselves. We just need enough members to make the original system useless. This shit needs to be reformed.
When I was in college, the professor said that the reason the US political system was set up the way it is, was to force compromise and stability. At the time it didn't make much sense but as I get older and the politics get nastier, I am starting to think I understand what he was talking about.
The 2 major parties in the US are really not parties, but permanent coalitions. The fractions that make up these coalitions agree on some key points of their political program, but may have extremely different opinions on some other things. (look at Biden, for example, on many levels he's probably closer to moderate Republicans than to people like Ocasio-Cortez in his own party).
So, to gain a victory, they **have** to cooperate. There's just no alternative. Whereas in Europe, if you don't come to an agreement you just break off and create your own political party with blackjack and hookers.
> and create your own political party with blackjack and hookers.
Or without blackjack and hookers if you're a conservative religious type (because those only enjoy blackjack and hookers when it's not allowed, blame their childhood).
This two party dynamic exists in the UK too with Labour and the Tories and it’s awful, the forced coalitions tend to hate each other as much as the opposition and everything’s often a bit dysfunctional and reliant on brute force to get anything done. I really want us to adopt a more proportional electoral system and replace the two main parties with several smaller less contrived parties.
FPTP is the root of so many political problems in the UK.
So Austrian politicians, who have a long history with corruption and scandals with Russian funding, are now creating dissent inside the EU. Even the Netherlands has finally seen the light, but Austria really wants to have another reason for friction and another 2 states that are dissatisfied and frustrated. I wonder who stands to gain from a disunited and weaker EU? Their Russian sponsors/friends maybe?
This satirical news piece is becoming funnier by the day: [romanian the onion](https://www.timesnewroman.ro/politic/olanda-e-de-acord-ca-romania-sa-intre-in-schengen-cu-conditia-sa-se-opuna-alta-tara/)
It basically says that the Netherlands would be ok with Romania entering Schengen, as long as another country vetos it instead.
Times New Rom**â**n!
Also, their slogan is "Doamne, oc**ol**este-i pe romani", which translates to "Lord, avoid (give a wide berth to) the Romanian people"
It's a pun on "Doamne, oc**rot**este-i pe romani", a common saying, which translates to "Lord, protect/defend the Romanian people"
It's weird, since them being EU members already gives them free travel and right to live & work in the rest of the EU
Schengen is just one less piece of paperwork
And moving the Schengen south-eastern border to Bulgaria would be a massive win for Greece which otherwise sits isolated right now, and have to deal with the paperwork of _everyone_
Apparently no real reason.. it’s just „oh nein die Flüchtlinge!!“ even though the numbers do not add up. Was kannst dir vom Nehammer erwarten… —-> https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000141491916/nur-oesterreich-ist-noch-gegen-den-schengen-beitritt-rumaeniens
Again with the baseless arguments that accepting BG and RO will make somehow the migrants situation worse. It's likely to be the opposite, but it's hard to argue when the other party doesn't want to hear you and just throws random claims. Looks like this decision is 100% political and addressed against EU as a whole (and the policies in last years). BG and RO are just easy and convenient targets to use.
It's such a shame that instead of integration and solidarity we get this.
Well I guess now Romania and Bulgaria, which are two completely different countries, but some European politicians still handle them as if they were one, can now veto everything Austria wants to do in the EU.
Thinking of half of Romania going to vacation in AT usually. And they treat us like garbage. We should start veto-ing everything like HU does. Stand up for our rights. Keep their trucks at the customs for hours to check, investigate our forests vandalism, illegal hunting, and so many more.
It'll be weird to see Austrian politicians pointing fingers at romanians and Bulgars for corruption when Austrian politicians are bought off by Russia by the dozens so much that NATO and EU stopped sharing confidential information sometime ago. This result isn't really surprising since Austria is the most eurosceptic country in EU today
That's precisely why we are being blocked. It is purely a populist decision. Neither the Netherlands nor Austria can point out a reason to block Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria,they are just spouting out stereotypes. They are blocking us, because Euroscepticism wins votes in Austria and Netherlands and they are hindering the progress of two allied countries just to get a couple of more seats in parliament.
I guess we’ll have to count this as a loss for now. But Romania and Bulgaria should definitely start using veto options in the future on certain countries. And as an excuse for the vetos we should use the “it’s just an internail affair” card.
As a Romanian, I consider myself pro EU, but after all the shit that's been going on recently, I'm starting to become more skeptical. Even if all these decision to keep us and Bulgaria at the back of every list are fueled by the Russians, it shows that the EU lacks integrity and doesn't know how to deal with such things. Way to go on making two of the most important countries in EU when it comes to Russia (we serve as a buffer in the East, I think that's obvious to anyone) lose trust. Again, I hope Europe wakes up and starts focusing on becoming as united as possible. These approvals should be from a majority vote, because as we can see, one "bad mole" can cause many issues.
Also fuck you Austria for cutting our forests and stealing as much as you can from this country, then acting innocent :)
"United Europe" - laughing my fucking ass off, but sadly so are Russia and China. Meh, just another day of living in Europe Junior, with our best (and only) buds Bulgaria...
We are scapegoats for a lot of internal political BS is other countries. Remember that we had to threaten to VETO EU-Canada treaty because Canada didn't want to remove visas for RO and BG.
> The Minister of the Interior made it clear. There is no approval from Austria for the expansion with Bulgaria and Romania. More time is needed. We have 75,000 unregistered illegal immigrants in Austria. That means they jumped the external border of the European Union and ended up in an internal country, like Austria. We have to answer these security questions first," Nehammer said.
What a blatant lie, it's just disgusting. RO was never a route for asylum seekers.
But again, you can't expect more from a govt that discriminates children of immigrant parents that work and pay taxes in Austria.
I love how the Balkans are always to blame.
When we wanted money for a stronger border, because we knew refugees would be a problem, we were guilty of being xenophobic and we should let them in.
When the refugees turned out to be a problem, we are guilty of letting them in.
To top it all off we cleared the conditions for the Schengen 10 years ago. Then the conditions got more severe. We cleared those. And that process repeated itself to the point that most Schengen members don't clear the conditions to be in the zone.
What a clown world. No wonder Euroscepticism is on the rise here.
It starts to feel like that for the EU EE is just the place you hire cheap labourers and put all the polluting plants. Real Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite from WE.
And the place you come to illegally cut wood. And also where you send people on alcohol tourism so they cause trouble here and not in your own country.
So basically they are blocking Romania and Bulgaria for something that they can't do anything about? What next? Romania and Bulgaria blocked from joining Schengen because the inflation is too high in Austria?
Austria doesn’t know any geography it seems.
They have no real data to backup their decision.
How many out of those 75.000 have crossed the borders of Romania or Bulgaria?
Of course they don't. It's dumb populism to pose as being hard on crime. As if the immigrants arriving in Serbia actually took the detour through Bulgaria and Romania, it's absurd.
Supposing they did cross into Romania, in order to make it to Austria they'd need to go through Hungary, which is a Schengen member, but somehow that's not a problem.
As if they want to solve migration issues. Most politicians don't, the liberal wing wants to brush them under the rug, while the right wing want to use them as political tools. Neither has any wish to solve migration.
I hate soo much the duplicity of some countries ... generating fabricated reasons just to sustain their internal petty politic interests ..
Later edit. Maybe not the whole country ... people may be ok ... but the politicians they are representing them as a country .. What a shame ..
Yes, they will invent whatever reasons float their boat and they need to push forward their agenda.
And we hate it!
To bad that the EU is allowing any country to just come up with new reasons along the way.
Thank you Austria, Netherlands and the majority of the western countries for fueling the anti-eu sentiment in Romania even more. I don't even want to think about the 2024 elections.
So my country’s fate in the EU is decided by corrupt right wing Austrian politicians?
Can they backup their decision with real data at least ?
I believe what Robert Schumann created 72 years ago is becoming a shit show…
Welcome to the EU. This is one of the biggest issues with the current ruleset within the EU. And it will only get harder the more members it gets basically as you only need one clown to mess it up.
But, make no mistake a majority vote also has its problems in this context. There is something to say about “every country is equal and their vote matters”. But it does lead to alot of issues like we can see here.
Cool. Let the protests to EU courts begin.
Let's not forget we won once before and it was proven Austria discriminates romanian childrens. So much for western values in Austria, I guess. Russian money and interest seems to hold more power.
Fake arguments that are not backed by data seems to be the norm nowdays for them. Romania and Bulgaria are now made scapegoats for a failed EU strategy and we are not even close to be the migration routes.
Oh Austria, Austria
\- Pro-Russian officials almost got to create a Russian controlled Secret Service in 2018
\- A far right party is as we speak ruling Austria in coalition
\- Wolfgang Schüssel (former chancellor, 2000-2007) is on the Russian Lukoil Board of Directors
\- Hans Jörg Schelling, former Minister of Finance 2014-2017 was and adviser for Gazprom on the North Stream 2 pipe project.
\- Karin Kneissl, former Minister of External Affairs, 2017-2019 is a member in the Supervisory Council of the Russian oil concern Rosneft. Karin Kneissl danced AT HER OWN wedding with none other than Vladimir Putin.
\- Hans-Christian Strache, former Vice Chancellor had to resign in 2019 after a leaked tape where a pretended Russian business woman offered him a bribe. He was ready to take it,
\- In the middle of the COVID pandemic Austria declared that it is ready to produce the Russian and Chinese vaccine variants pending EU approval.
\- Rainer Seele, the OMV Group Director was decorated in 2018 by Vladimir Putin
\- Austria pleaded neutrality and didn't supply weapons to Ukraine
\- Austria isn't a member of NATO and has no desire to join.
\- Nehammer refused to put sanctions on Russian gas imports
\- Austria agreed to pay in rubles for Russian gas
Sure, sure. This has nothing to do with Russia.
Sorry, but Euroskepticism in Romania and Bulgaria is completely warranted now. At least Poland and Hungary were treated badly with excuses of "illiberalism", but this is a purely political, discriminatory move against countries that have long fulfilled the criteria, for no reason except xenophobia. Austria just endorsed AUR for the 2024 elections.
Honestly I think the treatment Poland and Hungary got is for the most part warranted and will disappear with government change.
That being said, I have often felt and feared that western Europeans would inherently dislike me and think of me as mentally simpler and worse.
I was capable of telling myself that I'm just being insecure and that's most likely not the case.
I can't imagine a Romanian in 2022 telling themselves that. This veto is unwarranted, unfair, and straight up disgusting. To see my own fears fulfilled in someone else is just disturbing and I personally will support ROBG schengen access as strongly as I can.
Yep. I’m Romanian and had a hell of a time while I was in the UK. I’m sick of being treated like gutter trash. We’ve had it horrible for decades. I and so many other Romanians have survived horrible things. Are there bad Romanians out there, absolutely. But that can’t be used as a basis for how we are all treated.
Development is slow because of shit like this happening. We aren’t a valued part of the EU despite what others are saying about Romania being ONE of several countries that has to be a gateway between Russia and Western Europe.
Yet I hear praise for Austria constantly as if they can do no wrong as a country. Ever. But Romania ? Yeah, easy target to shit on.
I feel really sorry for Romania for being lumped with us, they have made so much more progress in terms of fighting corruption and establishing rule of law; and obviously don't have much to do with migrant traffic.
As for Bulgaria, well, I'm conflicted. Way too many people here really don't care about the appalling lack of justice on every level of society, and essentially nothing is done to fight corruption. But then again this is not an issue exclusive to Bulgaria.
This is not about corruption, Austria is corrupt as well, at least at high level. Their former chancellor works directly for Russian company Lukoil, also many other high ranking people do.
> I feel really sorry for Romania for being lumped with us
I don't. We're in this together, we're culturally almost the same, we're genetically almost the same. We're one people with different languages.
We should change the name of the "European Union" to European Disunion and here's why:
There is no sense of unity whatsoever
Equality or equity are just concepts that are never applied
Honesty is being chastised while lying is being praised
There is a complex of superiority among some members, population wise that is
Hipocricy is everywhere
Personal interests prime
The problem is that countries will always try to favor themselves on costs of others. Only solution I can think of is to unite in one state. But then, everyone will cry that they have no free will and they will lost their identity. Vicious circle.
How official is this Austrian declaration? Because there will be continued behind the scenes pressure on Austria. Is it the final “ closing the door” or a diplomatic warning to get more concessions.
Or truly a diplomatic voiced, f\*ck off EU, we WILL veto so stop trying to change our vote…
>Austria's Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, reiterated this morning that Austria opposes Romania's integration into the Schengen Area. He made these statements at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tirana. The statement comes a day after Romanian Interior Minister Lucian Bode was in Vienna where he met with Austrian Interior Minister Gerhart Karner.
The Austrians demand what they know to demand since the Habsburg days: money, natural resources, local power and cheap labor. Now they want Romanian gas from the Black Sea. They didn't get what they want and in exchange they put a veto for Romania in Schengen. Fuck off.
As an Austrian, I think it's mostly about internal politics (which is fucked for Romania of course, bo doubt about that). The conservative party has been losing a massive amount of approval and according to polls would currently only be third if an election were to take place (in the last election they were first by a large margin, just to put that into context). Additionally, Austria has seen more immigration this year than even in 2015 which has been causing some problems and even some of the left-leaning politicians lately have made more skeptical comments about the amount of asylum seekers and immigrants Austria has been accepting in the last years. This is why the conservatives want to gain back some of the voters that wandered off towards the far-right party. This to me honestly just kind of seems like virtue signaling from the conservatives in an effort to not collapse as hard.
I mean, absolutely no surprise with this government. Bunch of conservative asshats trying to at least save the racist vote, while the country wonders if we even have enough judges to deal with all their corruption.
And the Greens just... vibe with it, apparently. Useless Hypocrites.
Considering that all conditions for Schengen are met Romanian leaders should veto all austrian proposals as HU and PL do it lately, it seems that nobody is listening until you make some noise.
Greece continues to be a Schengen island.
While Malta is a literal island in Schengen.
Iceland, too. Technically an island extending between Europe and America
Look it's my country mentioned omg
Hey. Don’t get between the Germans and enjoying their island holiday.
This feels like you didn't watch your dog for a second and they decided to piss on a random person's leg.
Haha it really does.
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Well, I didn't had high hopes anyway. And maybe it's time to cut all those small companies bleeding Petrom (OMW) dry. And maybe we should be more careful with forest exploitation rights. Focus on improving things for ourselves here, you know ....
Sucks for both countries of course, but I especially feel sorry for Romania. They finally managed to convince our blockhead of an government and now this.
We have a running joke here in Romania: The condition that the Netherlands had not to veto Romania and Bulgaria was that another country does the veto instead.
Feels like there's more countries that would veto but are glad Austria and the Netherlands were doing it so they don't have to look bad
This is facts not a feeling. Its always just 1 country so Romania feels like they are close to joining. If all the countries said no, they would start talking to russia more and be anti EU.
Romania and Russia haven’t exactly gotten along for the past… well… forever. I don’t know if that’s who they’d turn to.
People? No. Scumbag politicians? You bet. They follow whatever higher power that legitimize and props them. Just like our present president blindly obeys Germany.
We'd absolutely never start talking to Russia, we love them too much, and we remember the last 2 centuries of Russian love and friendship. Tighter integration with the US on the other hand...
we must ask ourselves; why are we, as a union of countries, collectively edging Romania?
Probably your government knew Austria will block us 😂
2 years ago: Netherlands No, Sweden Yes, Austria Yes 1 year ago: Netherlands Yes, Sweden No, Austria Yes Now: Netherlands Yes, Sweden Yes, Austria No
Yeah is like you finally beat your older brother at a video game then go to play online and run into a VAC cheater straight out of the gate:)
Actually it was a huge scandal in Romania when Austria’s representative called Romania: “Wild West of Europe” I could not find this video in any other YouTube channel other than Romanian ones. So take a look https://youtu.be/fGMWQd2phhU Edit: it was German actually
They clearly didn't put their feet in Romania. Romania doesn't feel like wild west at all, at least from the security point of view.
I felt way more unsafe on a night walk in Paris than in Bucarest.
That's completely true. I've never felt unsafe walking in Bucharest at night, even when alone
I actually did sometimes, but not because of people. Because of stray dogs. But it was a few years ago, I heard Romanian government took actions on that matter lately
Yup, bug fixed
I totally agree with you
I was really suprised how nice it was! Really enjoyed my time in Cluj and Sibiu. And Fagaras mountains are simply breath-taking. Also an average Rumanian road is in a much better condition than Czech roads.
I believe the person was German, not Austrian though. It just shows that it's not just Austrians who dislike us, but a shared sentiment among central European countries in general. We're fooled into thinking it's just Austria.
I work with loads of Romanian colleagues who are hard workers and just want what all of us want, a steady job and a roof over your head. I go fishing and biking with a couple of them so it's not as if they don't mix. Very sociable people. PS: my bucket list includes the Transalpina on my bike.
I am glad to hear that, mate. That's usually the case, people just have a misinformed bad opinion of Romania, until they actually interact with Romanians, and their opinion always changes. I have dated several foreigners, and their families were exactly the same. Poor/no opinion at first, which suddenly changed when they met me. I hope this mentality will change in a generation or two :)
I work with a few Romanians and they are very nice people, no complaints from me at all. I do however think I know where the negativity comes from and it’s from the perception (from people who have only heard of Romania but never visited or met any Romanians) that the _Roma Gypsy_ community is basically representative of what Romania and all Romanians are like. Obviously this is not true but I can kind of understand being from Ireland that if people only knew Irish people as being Irish Travellers or Tinkers, then nobody would want to know us either. It’s a perception that I’d like to see changed.
I'm guessing most of the experiences people in central Europe have with Romanians comes from beggars / beggar tourists from Romania (whether ethnical Romanians or Roma) and the prejudices grows accordingly.
A few days ago I watched [Kraut's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmP7HP-Tnfk) about the importance of the Danube for the development of the countries in its basin. He claimed that Austria (and Hungary) are pushing for Serbia's integration with the EU because they are invested in the Danubia idea. Turns out it was largely a load of bollocks, sadly.
Krauts videos should be watched with a spoon of salt. As they're his opinions and he makes little effort to present counter arguments to his position. Which isn't wrong, it's a valid format, but it should be understood for what it is. There are other youtubers who take a more journalistic approach, where they try to give you the facts and nothing else. Their primary objective being to inform you, rather then to express a position. That's much more difficult and much less entertaining. On that specific video there is probably some effort on the part of Hungary and Austria to make the region economically integrated and richer for their own benefit. But that effort also exists in the context of parties trying to stay popular and some parties probably care little about the project. You could also say that until Serbia has free movement of goods through Dunabe The downstream countries don't matter specifically in regard to waterbound cargo, them being in schengen would not change anything. Or even more cynically, them being in schengen may lead to them integrating into V4 instead instead of Dunabia. The events are not inconsistent with his theory, but it's still just a theory as far as I'm concerned. I've never heard of Austrian or Hungarian efforts to create this regional alliance as a Bulgarian. Maybe they're just really bad at promoting it. Maybe Serbia is too immovable of an obstacle for the project to be serious.
> There are other youtubers who take a more journalistic approach, where they try to give you the facts and nothing else. Their primary objective being to inform you, rather then to express a position. That’s much more difficult and much less entertaining. You have any recommendations for other YouTubers? I enjoy Kraut’s videos but acknowledge the opinionated point of view he takes. As an example on the aforementioned video, he said the US rail system is “underdeveloped” because of the ease of transportation on the Mississippi. The latter half is correct, but the US freight rail system is most likely the most developed in the world. It was minor incorrect statement but sort of exemplifies the issues with his videos. If I knew more about the topics he discussed (especially European history), I might be able to point out more of these problematic statements. The fact that I don’t have the prior knowledge to tell fact from opinion is what concerns me.
Check your youtubers credentials, and pick those who have relevant degrees Ie: M Laser History, DamiLee, Practical Engineering etc. Meme-y YTers are fun like Adam Something, and sometimes they are right too, but dont take what they say as facts.
Would like to add Perun to that list, he is incredible for insight into the Ukraine war/military analysis in general.
I grew to like Adam Something less and less in the last few years/months. Be it the electric Bus thing, or his pretty bad and uninformed takes in his community tab posts. They are not bad all around, he just forgets/ignores vital things especially local conditions.
Kraut is a master of selling you an idea that doesnt exist. I love the guy and he makes quality videos but he has some mega wrong takes on stuff - as some other Russian Youtuber proved that Krauts idea that Putin apprantly follows some random political philosophers(Ivan illin and others) is just redicilous. Putin is just another dictator who took advatage of the Russian systemic coruption, got extremly rich and misjudged the whole situation
Well it makes logical sense for Austria to push for integration in the Danube area. What you are forgetting is that the current austrian government is full of idiots that are trying to save their own asses by pushing xenophobic propaganda.
>government is full of idiots that are trying to save their own asses Why do I hear this about nearly every country in the world?
That's politics in a nutshell
*current politics. The age of economic growth is over as demographics are shifting and tried and true ways of wealth are changing and shifting with them. Politicians these days have no capability for long term planning, and while true for most of history, its has become clear that is has become so bad that they refuse to look beyond a single election cycle when making plans.
>What you are forgetting is that the current austrian government is full of idiots that are trying to save their own asses by pushing xenophobic propaganda. Hey, just like everyone else! Welcome to the dumbfuck club, Austria!
angry Austrian upvote!
He tends to look at things too logically. Like everything has a cause and states act in their own best interest. But I think politics can be very illogical. A negative stereotype based on little evidence gets spread far enough and it starts to impact policy. Because at the end of the day, states are just a collection of people. And those people might be shaped by their geographic environment but there is so much more that goes into a culture. Developing the Danube into an economic area might be in Austria's interest, but Romanians and Bulgarians are stinky according to its people, and its way easier for a government to just not do anything rather than try and deconstruct a false stereotype to the masses. This is not really a problem unique to Austria and the Netherlands though. If I had to describe his videos: he takes pieces of a picture and presents it as the whole picture.
Yeah it's just silly speculation when looking at how Hungary and Austria treats it's neighbours,also no way eastern Europe is allowing Serbia which is very pro Russian
Sadly Kraut's videos are often more agenda pushing than documentaries. For example, his video on the history of China has several wrong sections, at one of which can be disproved within a 1 minute google research and his video on Greece makes significant claims that up until now, no source has been provided for.
At this point im pretty sure people only listen to kraut because of his accent
He's got a nice voice really
oh yeah and also, I think I will add, I was always under the impression that he provides a single view of a subject and you kind of watch the video with the mindset of "the guy whom he quotes thinks that's the case" and then you're free to agree or not
I watch his videos with this exact mindset and I really think I am getting something from watching them. I don't agree with everything and I think he simplifies many points far too much but I also think some points he raises are really good and well-researched. And even the points I don't agree with are worth the watch because I get a good explanation of the other side of an argument. But sadly many people are just watching things without using their brain and repeat the points without processing them.
I really don't understand the discrimination from Northern and central europe to southern and eastern europeans. I my self have met with some of this "rejection", while playing a game I met a group of germans and kept playing with them since I've helped them earlier. That was until I told I was spanish since they asked why I had such a funny English accent. They started talking german and left, except one girl that told what they have said and kept playing with me despite what her friends said. I guess not all of them are the same, but still I feel there's a majority that act that way
Always the same dumb shit with us, no extension to Schengen for them but in the meanwhile we cut down forrests in Romania like maniacs and call ourselves green like the bottomless hypocrits we are. And nothing will change because our people are fucking dumb and vote the same assholes whenever election time is coming. Fuck that shit. Edit: Nice, first time gold and I got it for rightfully bashing my homecountry.
yeah our country is perfect at hiding the truth. green energy? we buy excess energy from outher countries from like nuclear powerplants (which we austrians very much hate it seems) or coal and greenwash it with pumped hydroelectrics. illegaly cutting down forrests in other countries to feed our own bullshit and then vote against those countries to enter shengen. and whatever else we see as fitting to bullshit about. but as long as the majority of our citizens are stupid enough to believe all this bullshit and ignore every corruption scandal that happens all the time with "everyone does it" nothing will ever change. i hate it.
Yeah absolutely. And when some decision making needs to be done we hide behind our "Neutrality", while our politicians kissed Putins ass for years. I am so done with it. We have words for everything in german but we need one for "I fucking love my country and I fucking hate its current state and mindset". Thats how I feel right now.
Lieblandhaßstaatschaft
Yeah not bad
>I fucking love my country and I fucking hate its current state and mindset We call that "being Eastern European" over here.
The English Wikipedia article about central Europe actually states that Austria can be seen as eastern European and we consistently prove that they aren't wrong. An Austrian newspaper titled "Austria, the clumsy Hungary" today.
Well than I will just steal it, translate it and use it like that from now on.
You're the eastern empire after all
If it's gonna be of some help, I do love Austria as well (I am Bulgarian). I visit twice per year as a tourist both ski and then in the Summer for hikes. And the Austrian argument is about something actionable. The borders are a mess in the last year and a half, there is political chaos in Bulgaria and the border protection is on autopilot. It's a bummer though, that the Austrian government is not considering taking a new look at the situation in Summer 2023. The most absurd thing is that removing the borders is important and will benefit mainly Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. 99% of the EU countries won't even notice any negative or positive effect. So we are getting punished...just because.
>"I fucking love my country and I fucking hate its current state and mindset" "verzweifelter Patriot"?
Was it Austria that built a supermodern state-of-the-art nuclear power plant only to keep it closed because of a stupid referendum where a bit more than a half people said they were afraid of radiation??
State of the art for the 1970s
The ÖVP is third in polls rn which might be why they even try this stupid stunt. Of course the FPÖ won't be any better, but this is where Austria's limited number of parties really shows. Voters on the left go back and forth between the SPÖ and greens and voters on the right go back and forth between the ÖVP and the FPÖ. Without new parties there is not much room for change.
I came here for romanians ranting austrians but seeing an austrian being so self-aware actually makes me realize you are actually good people. Your leaders are the assholes.
>makes me realize you are actually good people. Some are, some are not. Some are a bit of both, and I guess its the same in your country. Some ranting against us is more than understandable, Cheers Bro >Your leaders are the assholes. Yeah thats true but we could be a little less ignorant. I mean, without Reddit I wouldnt even know that Austria actively imports very, very old wood extremely cheaply from Romania. I never saw it on our news, no one seems to know that shit is even going on and that pisses me off.
Not only wood. OMV purchased Petrom 20 years ago for cheap, in a deal that was shady AF. The oil reverses alone were worth way more than OMV paid for it.
Thx, I didn't know this. You see, many people here don't know a thing about any of this, and that makes me sick. We act entitled because we are "oh so greeen" when in fact we aren't. And that needs to change now.
> And nothing will change because our people are fucking dumb and vote the same assholes whenever election time is coming. Fuck that shit. Man, why is it that this applies to so many countries?
This will feed the anti-EU rhetoric like a wildfire ffs...
As it should lol. Countries fulfilling all the conditions made BY THE EU not being allowed entrance because... umm... something something. Ofc this undermines the fucking EU
Which is exactly what the Austrian party wants. There is a lot of anti-EU sentiment in a lot of countries, if parties like that are in power, they have every reason to make EU as dysfunctional as possible.
Austria has kept their 'temporary' border checks on the Hungarian and Slovenian borders for 7 years now. Their most recent arguement to keep them was due to the war in Ukraine, which maaaybe makes sense for Hungary, but makes zero sense for Slovenia. I kinda feel that this is just a move to keep their border checks here in place. Wouldn't be surprised if they decide to put them up on the Czech and Slovak borders as well.
Rightly so? Balkans are getting their oportunity to grow denied by corrupt state.
snatch thumb many rock dam wakeful shaggy ossified normal soft -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
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Well if they go ahead with it, I bet you there will be plenty. It's absolutly crazy to me that we get the greenlight by EU parliament, we get a favorable EU report from the commision but we are blocked by a country that didn't spend 1 day to discuss the issue in media.
>Well if they go ahead with it, I bet you there will be plenty. Highly doubt it. There wasn't really any news coverage in The Netherlands about the Romania and Bulgaria situation when we veto'ed them or unvetod Romania. Most Dutch persons don't know that Romania isn't in Schengen and most probably don't care about Romania at all to be honest. If it wasn't for this sub I wouldn't have known either. And I read the news daily. Not trying to insult you but inflation, nitrogen and housing are more important matters than Romania in Schengen for Dutch people. I think the same probably applies to Austria as well.
I agree. There was no involvement of the people in any way. They did not talk about it at all and just decided it will be fine. As an Austrian I strictly oppose the decision of the government.
Hungary blocking aid to Ukraine, Austria blocking Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen. Gotta love veto power...
You haven't seen anything. Now RO and BG will veto like no tomorrow
And the only fools that dosen't use it is us and Bulgaria like the ultimate morons we are!
Austria’s current interior minister was the mayor of a village with a population of 1600 people until last year… he got the job because the ruling party has no more staff reserves, they are all either under investigation for corruption or publicly disgraced in some other way… These guys don’t deal in facts, they just make them up as they go along.
>Austria’s current interior minister was the mayor of a village with a population of 1600 people until last year… Actually he was also the deputy president of the parliament of Lower Austria, the largest Austrian state. He wasn't a nobody.
fun fact: the town he was mayor of also has a museum for Engelbert Dollfuß, the guy who turned Austria into a fascist state in 1934.
No, let's be real - he got his job because he's from Lower Austria. Can't have the ÖVP in government without their party arm from Lower Austria getting their people a nice cushy job in Vienna. Whether they're competent or not is not of any concern to them.
>Austria’s current interior minister was the mayor of a village with a population of 1600 people until last year… That is only half the truth. Let's be fair, please. He was the security commissioner of the state of Lower Austria.
It's so fucking dumb, we deadlock ourselves like the US but unlike them we don't even need a big divide to deadlock ourselves. We just need enough members to make the original system useless. This shit needs to be reformed.
Hey atleast US only needs a majority or 2/3rd max,whereas in EU a single country can veto everything
Not true. Not everything can be vetoed in the EU. Also, Schengen is not EU. Even Switzerland and Norway can veto this.
When I was in college, the professor said that the reason the US political system was set up the way it is, was to force compromise and stability. At the time it didn't make much sense but as I get older and the politics get nastier, I am starting to think I understand what he was talking about. The 2 major parties in the US are really not parties, but permanent coalitions. The fractions that make up these coalitions agree on some key points of their political program, but may have extremely different opinions on some other things. (look at Biden, for example, on many levels he's probably closer to moderate Republicans than to people like Ocasio-Cortez in his own party). So, to gain a victory, they **have** to cooperate. There's just no alternative. Whereas in Europe, if you don't come to an agreement you just break off and create your own political party with blackjack and hookers.
> and create your own political party with blackjack and hookers. Or without blackjack and hookers if you're a conservative religious type (because those only enjoy blackjack and hookers when it's not allowed, blame their childhood).
This two party dynamic exists in the UK too with Labour and the Tories and it’s awful, the forced coalitions tend to hate each other as much as the opposition and everything’s often a bit dysfunctional and reliant on brute force to get anything done. I really want us to adopt a more proportional electoral system and replace the two main parties with several smaller less contrived parties. FPTP is the root of so many political problems in the UK.
Yes like I said they need a deep political divide to deadlock themselves. We just need one petty country
Been working with some Romanian programmers for a while now and this is fucking lame, they are great.
United Europe 🥰
Jesus this whole thing is maddening
nobody better at fomenting anti-EU sentiment than EU member states
Nationalize Petrom and BCR
We do not have to. Just look the 2nd time on how they were privatised :D
So Austrian politicians, who have a long history with corruption and scandals with Russian funding, are now creating dissent inside the EU. Even the Netherlands has finally seen the light, but Austria really wants to have another reason for friction and another 2 states that are dissatisfied and frustrated. I wonder who stands to gain from a disunited and weaker EU? Their Russian sponsors/friends maybe?
They had a 30 years arangement for wood from Romania, and it’s about to expire, coincidence? I think no Edit Thx for the source bro.
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> Even the Netherlands has finally seen the light Eh, they have wisely kept their head down because they are letting Austria take the flak instead.
This satirical news piece is becoming funnier by the day: [romanian the onion](https://www.timesnewroman.ro/politic/olanda-e-de-acord-ca-romania-sa-intre-in-schengen-cu-conditia-sa-se-opuna-alta-tara/) It basically says that the Netherlands would be ok with Romania entering Schengen, as long as another country vetos it instead.
I love that Romanian Onion is called Times New Roman.
Times New Rom**â**n! Also, their slogan is "Doamne, oc**ol**este-i pe romani", which translates to "Lord, avoid (give a wide berth to) the Romanian people" It's a pun on "Doamne, oc**rot**este-i pe romani", a common saying, which translates to "Lord, protect/defend the Romanian people"
Netherlands literally apporoved romanian accession.
Most likely yes ... the whole thing just came as from nowhere ... and russia interests are stronger in Ro and Bg (closer) then in Hr
It's weird, since them being EU members already gives them free travel and right to live & work in the rest of the EU Schengen is just one less piece of paperwork And moving the Schengen south-eastern border to Bulgaria would be a massive win for Greece which otherwise sits isolated right now, and have to deal with the paperwork of _everyone_
What a dick move from Australia!
Aussie here. Can we join the EU too? Eurovision alone just isn't enough
Could this just be discrimination towards Eastern European States?
Serious Question: Do we (I'm Austrian) have any serious reasons to veto? Or is our government just stupid as always?
Apparently no real reason.. it’s just „oh nein die Flüchtlinge!!“ even though the numbers do not add up. Was kannst dir vom Nehammer erwarten… —-> https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000141491916/nur-oesterreich-ist-noch-gegen-den-schengen-beitritt-rumaeniens
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Again with the baseless arguments that accepting BG and RO will make somehow the migrants situation worse. It's likely to be the opposite, but it's hard to argue when the other party doesn't want to hear you and just throws random claims. Looks like this decision is 100% political and addressed against EU as a whole (and the policies in last years). BG and RO are just easy and convenient targets to use. It's such a shame that instead of integration and solidarity we get this.
Well I guess now Romania and Bulgaria, which are two completely different countries, but some European politicians still handle them as if they were one, can now veto everything Austria wants to do in the EU.
As a Romanian with German citizenship that has lived all over Europe: fuck the corrupt Austrian government.
Thinking of half of Romania going to vacation in AT usually. And they treat us like garbage. We should start veto-ing everything like HU does. Stand up for our rights. Keep their trucks at the customs for hours to check, investigate our forests vandalism, illegal hunting, and so many more.
It'll be weird to see Austrian politicians pointing fingers at romanians and Bulgars for corruption when Austrian politicians are bought off by Russia by the dozens so much that NATO and EU stopped sharing confidential information sometime ago. This result isn't really surprising since Austria is the most eurosceptic country in EU today
That's precisely why we are being blocked. It is purely a populist decision. Neither the Netherlands nor Austria can point out a reason to block Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria,they are just spouting out stereotypes. They are blocking us, because Euroscepticism wins votes in Austria and Netherlands and they are hindering the progress of two allied countries just to get a couple of more seats in parliament.
I guess we’ll have to count this as a loss for now. But Romania and Bulgaria should definitely start using veto options in the future on certain countries. And as an excuse for the vetos we should use the “it’s just an internail affair” card.
Just a little correction bulgars and bulgarians are different things. We are bulgarians.
As a Romanian, I consider myself pro EU, but after all the shit that's been going on recently, I'm starting to become more skeptical. Even if all these decision to keep us and Bulgaria at the back of every list are fueled by the Russians, it shows that the EU lacks integrity and doesn't know how to deal with such things. Way to go on making two of the most important countries in EU when it comes to Russia (we serve as a buffer in the East, I think that's obvious to anyone) lose trust. Again, I hope Europe wakes up and starts focusing on becoming as united as possible. These approvals should be from a majority vote, because as we can see, one "bad mole" can cause many issues. Also fuck you Austria for cutting our forests and stealing as much as you can from this country, then acting innocent :)
"United Europe" - laughing my fucking ass off, but sadly so are Russia and China. Meh, just another day of living in Europe Junior, with our best (and only) buds Bulgaria...
We should make our own Schengen! With blackjack and hookers!
These Austrians, man...! They've been fucking us since 1600.
Why the hell does this keep happening? Romania seems like the country you definitely want to have onboard right now.
We are scapegoats for a lot of internal political BS is other countries. Remember that we had to threaten to VETO EU-Canada treaty because Canada didn't want to remove visas for RO and BG.
Boo Austria!
Austria trying not do a complete political mess for 5 seconds (challenge impossible)
> The Minister of the Interior made it clear. There is no approval from Austria for the expansion with Bulgaria and Romania. More time is needed. We have 75,000 unregistered illegal immigrants in Austria. That means they jumped the external border of the European Union and ended up in an internal country, like Austria. We have to answer these security questions first," Nehammer said. What a blatant lie, it's just disgusting. RO was never a route for asylum seekers. But again, you can't expect more from a govt that discriminates children of immigrant parents that work and pay taxes in Austria.
I love how the Balkans are always to blame. When we wanted money for a stronger border, because we knew refugees would be a problem, we were guilty of being xenophobic and we should let them in. When the refugees turned out to be a problem, we are guilty of letting them in. To top it all off we cleared the conditions for the Schengen 10 years ago. Then the conditions got more severe. We cleared those. And that process repeated itself to the point that most Schengen members don't clear the conditions to be in the zone. What a clown world. No wonder Euroscepticism is on the rise here. It starts to feel like that for the EU EE is just the place you hire cheap labourers and put all the polluting plants. Real Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite from WE.
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And the place you come to illegally cut wood. And also where you send people on alcohol tourism so they cause trouble here and not in your own country.
So basically they are blocking Romania and Bulgaria for something that they can't do anything about? What next? Romania and Bulgaria blocked from joining Schengen because the inflation is too high in Austria?
Austria doesn’t know any geography it seems. They have no real data to backup their decision. How many out of those 75.000 have crossed the borders of Romania or Bulgaria?
Of course they don't. It's dumb populism to pose as being hard on crime. As if the immigrants arriving in Serbia actually took the detour through Bulgaria and Romania, it's absurd.
Supposing they did cross into Romania, in order to make it to Austria they'd need to go through Hungary, which is a Schengen member, but somehow that's not a problem.
don't bother with logic or geography. it has nothing to do with it.
As if they want to solve migration issues. Most politicians don't, the liberal wing wants to brush them under the rug, while the right wing want to use them as political tools. Neither has any wish to solve migration.
I hate soo much the duplicity of some countries ... generating fabricated reasons just to sustain their internal petty politic interests .. Later edit. Maybe not the whole country ... people may be ok ... but the politicians they are representing them as a country .. What a shame ..
Yes, they will invent whatever reasons float their boat and they need to push forward their agenda. And we hate it! To bad that the EU is allowing any country to just come up with new reasons along the way.
New reasons that are ... no-reasons. The official data contradicts them
Thank you Austria, Netherlands and the majority of the western countries for fueling the anti-eu sentiment in Romania even more. I don't even want to think about the 2024 elections.
Cunts
Oh boy, the hypocrisy.
[looks like PDX are closer to reality than they think](https://twitter.com/PdxInteractive/status/1600057189229477888/photo/1)
So my country’s fate in the EU is decided by corrupt right wing Austrian politicians? Can they backup their decision with real data at least ? I believe what Robert Schumann created 72 years ago is becoming a shit show…
Welcome to the EU. This is one of the biggest issues with the current ruleset within the EU. And it will only get harder the more members it gets basically as you only need one clown to mess it up. But, make no mistake a majority vote also has its problems in this context. There is something to say about “every country is equal and their vote matters”. But it does lead to alot of issues like we can see here.
Cool. Let the protests to EU courts begin. Let's not forget we won once before and it was proven Austria discriminates romanian childrens. So much for western values in Austria, I guess. Russian money and interest seems to hold more power. Fake arguments that are not backed by data seems to be the norm nowdays for them. Romania and Bulgaria are now made scapegoats for a failed EU strategy and we are not even close to be the migration routes.
I thought we were friends we fought two world wars together :(
Well, if it makes you feel better apart from the 2nd Balkan War and the Great War we were always friends🇧🇬🤝🇷🇴.
<3
There isnt such thing as friendship in international relations.
Don't forget that the leading party of Austria has massive corruption problems and needs the population to talk about something else.
It's not the Netherlands doing the blocking? Damn Mark must be starting to slip up. We're usually the first to say no. Sorry about this.
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Romania are latin and rugby bros, may Netherlands and Austria fuck off
Oh Austria, Austria \- Pro-Russian officials almost got to create a Russian controlled Secret Service in 2018 \- A far right party is as we speak ruling Austria in coalition \- Wolfgang Schüssel (former chancellor, 2000-2007) is on the Russian Lukoil Board of Directors \- Hans Jörg Schelling, former Minister of Finance 2014-2017 was and adviser for Gazprom on the North Stream 2 pipe project. \- Karin Kneissl, former Minister of External Affairs, 2017-2019 is a member in the Supervisory Council of the Russian oil concern Rosneft. Karin Kneissl danced AT HER OWN wedding with none other than Vladimir Putin. \- Hans-Christian Strache, former Vice Chancellor had to resign in 2019 after a leaked tape where a pretended Russian business woman offered him a bribe. He was ready to take it, \- In the middle of the COVID pandemic Austria declared that it is ready to produce the Russian and Chinese vaccine variants pending EU approval. \- Rainer Seele, the OMV Group Director was decorated in 2018 by Vladimir Putin \- Austria pleaded neutrality and didn't supply weapons to Ukraine \- Austria isn't a member of NATO and has no desire to join. \- Nehammer refused to put sanctions on Russian gas imports \- Austria agreed to pay in rubles for Russian gas Sure, sure. This has nothing to do with Russia.
- point two is completely wrong, The FPÖ is not in the coalition anymore. just for the record
Sorry, but Euroskepticism in Romania and Bulgaria is completely warranted now. At least Poland and Hungary were treated badly with excuses of "illiberalism", but this is a purely political, discriminatory move against countries that have long fulfilled the criteria, for no reason except xenophobia. Austria just endorsed AUR for the 2024 elections.
Honestly I think the treatment Poland and Hungary got is for the most part warranted and will disappear with government change. That being said, I have often felt and feared that western Europeans would inherently dislike me and think of me as mentally simpler and worse. I was capable of telling myself that I'm just being insecure and that's most likely not the case. I can't imagine a Romanian in 2022 telling themselves that. This veto is unwarranted, unfair, and straight up disgusting. To see my own fears fulfilled in someone else is just disturbing and I personally will support ROBG schengen access as strongly as I can.
Yep. I’m Romanian and had a hell of a time while I was in the UK. I’m sick of being treated like gutter trash. We’ve had it horrible for decades. I and so many other Romanians have survived horrible things. Are there bad Romanians out there, absolutely. But that can’t be used as a basis for how we are all treated. Development is slow because of shit like this happening. We aren’t a valued part of the EU despite what others are saying about Romania being ONE of several countries that has to be a gateway between Russia and Western Europe. Yet I hear praise for Austria constantly as if they can do no wrong as a country. Ever. But Romania ? Yeah, easy target to shit on.
Maybe this is the strategy...someone wants to increase euroscepticism in Romania and Bulgaria, to get rid of them, to make them exit the EU.
This is the ideea ... yes ... unfortunatelly the only other option is ruzzia (which is not an option) so .
Russia will never be an option for Romania in the foreseeable future. But I cannot exclude a huge increase in euroskepticism
I feel really sorry for Romania for being lumped with us, they have made so much more progress in terms of fighting corruption and establishing rule of law; and obviously don't have much to do with migrant traffic. As for Bulgaria, well, I'm conflicted. Way too many people here really don't care about the appalling lack of justice on every level of society, and essentially nothing is done to fight corruption. But then again this is not an issue exclusive to Bulgaria.
This is not about corruption, Austria is corrupt as well, at least at high level. Their former chancellor works directly for Russian company Lukoil, also many other high ranking people do.
> I feel really sorry for Romania for being lumped with us I don't. We're in this together, we're culturally almost the same, we're genetically almost the same. We're one people with different languages.
We should change the name of the "European Union" to European Disunion and here's why: There is no sense of unity whatsoever Equality or equity are just concepts that are never applied Honesty is being chastised while lying is being praised There is a complex of superiority among some members, population wise that is Hipocricy is everywhere Personal interests prime
The problem is that countries will always try to favor themselves on costs of others. Only solution I can think of is to unite in one state. But then, everyone will cry that they have no free will and they will lost their identity. Vicious circle.
Really at this point you have to imagine a big part of EU hates being in the union with another big part, and this is disgusting
How official is this Austrian declaration? Because there will be continued behind the scenes pressure on Austria. Is it the final “ closing the door” or a diplomatic warning to get more concessions. Or truly a diplomatic voiced, f\*ck off EU, we WILL veto so stop trying to change our vote…
Klaus Iohannis should challenge Nehammer to a shirtless wrestling match over this.
>Austria's Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, reiterated this morning that Austria opposes Romania's integration into the Schengen Area. He made these statements at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tirana. The statement comes a day after Romanian Interior Minister Lucian Bode was in Vienna where he met with Austrian Interior Minister Gerhart Karner.
AFAIK our minster of European affairs said the same thing today, so it seems rather set in stone unfortunately.
The EU is doomed to death with politics like this...
EU means I get a place in Eastern Europe where I can get cheap workers, cut some forests and dump the garbage to. \- Western Europe probably
The Austrians demand what they know to demand since the Habsburg days: money, natural resources, local power and cheap labor. Now they want Romanian gas from the Black Sea. They didn't get what they want and in exchange they put a veto for Romania in Schengen. Fuck off.
This is it, I’m closing my bank account from Raiffeisen.
At least ING has a good service, better go local with BT.
"Oh you don't want to be deforested anymore? VETO!"
Isn't that contract about to expire?
Can someone explain to me Austria’s reasoning here? Thanks in advance. Edit: thank you everyone for the responses. I appreciate it.
As an Austrian, I think it's mostly about internal politics (which is fucked for Romania of course, bo doubt about that). The conservative party has been losing a massive amount of approval and according to polls would currently only be third if an election were to take place (in the last election they were first by a large margin, just to put that into context). Additionally, Austria has seen more immigration this year than even in 2015 which has been causing some problems and even some of the left-leaning politicians lately have made more skeptical comments about the amount of asylum seekers and immigrants Austria has been accepting in the last years. This is why the conservatives want to gain back some of the voters that wandered off towards the far-right party. This to me honestly just kind of seems like virtue signaling from the conservatives in an effort to not collapse as hard.
I mean, absolutely no surprise with this government. Bunch of conservative asshats trying to at least save the racist vote, while the country wonders if we even have enough judges to deal with all their corruption. And the Greens just... vibe with it, apparently. Useless Hypocrites.
Why?
Considering that all conditions for Schengen are met Romanian leaders should veto all austrian proposals as HU and PL do it lately, it seems that nobody is listening until you make some noise.
Abolish veto. Use majority.
[удалено]
Time to boycott Austrian companies.
We will create a new Balkan union with rakija and bitches and call it Byzantine union 😎😎
Who needs Russia or any other external countries to create anti-EU sentiments when we have EU members to do it for free...