Austria vetoes Schengen zone extension for Bulgaria, Romania

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called the member states to approve the extension of the Schengen zone by including Bulgaria and Romania but Austria has rejected her proposal.

Von der Leyen expressed this request in her State of the Union address on September 13, in which she applauded the two Eastern European countries for their progress regarding asylum legislative and urged to "finally let them in – without further delay"

The Austrian Interior Minister, Gerhard Karner responded to the former German defence minister's nod at Vienna by saying that extending the visa-free zone at the moment made no sense.

"Currently, the migration figures are rising across Europe, and in many countries, additional border controls are being discussed, for example, in Germany with Poland. [...] At this point in time, it makes no sense for me to talk about an extension of the Schengen area. We need more controls, not less!”, Karner urged.

The Austrian government fears a large influx of irregular migrants and that the two countries could not effectively control their borders, which would following the approval become the EU’s external borders.

Romanian Head of State, Marcel Ciolacu told the Austrian der Standard on September 12 that Bucharest will legally fight it out with Austria at the European Court of Justice should it continue to veto his country's accession to the Schengen Zone.