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Austria-Romania relations refer to the diplomatic relations betweenAustria andRomania, which were established on September 23, 1878.[1] Austria, in the form ofCisleithania, a constituent and the dominant part of theAustro-Hungarian Empire, was the first country to recognizeRomania's independence from Turkey, at the time theOttoman Empire.
Both countries are full members of theCouncil of Europe,Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and theEuropean Union. Austria has an embassy inBucharest, and two consulates inConstanța andSibiu. Romania has an embassy inVienna.
The relations were mostly based on the geopolitic context of the common history, including periods of hatred such asWorld War I, when the countries directly fought against each other, and periods of tolerance, cooperation and mutual liking, more often since the two countries joined theEU in1995 and2007, respectively.
In the present day, relations are at a low level and a mutual dislike sentiment is active between bothAustrians andRomanians, due to numerous diplomatic disputes, most of them taking place after Romania's accession to theEU.
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DuringWorld War II, Romanian prisoners of war were amongAllied POWs held in the Stalag XVII-A, Stalag XVII-B and Stalag 398German POW camps inGerman-annexed Austria.[2]
The main turning point of the Austria-Romania relations, despite numerous other events, took place in December 2022.
As of December 2022, fivemembers of the European Union were still not part of theSchengen Area, an organization directly under European Union's jurisdiction. Those members wereBulgaria,Croatia,Cyprus,Ireland and Romania. Ireland maintained anopt-out, while the others were, and still are, in the process of accession. Bulgaria and Romania became European Union member states in 2007, and their first attempt to join the Schengen Area came in 2011 when six countries vetoed their accession over problems regarding corruption, lack of democracy, border issues and other facts. Over time, both countries solved parts of the issues regarding this, and most of the countries vetoing their accession gave their agreement for allowing them to finally be a part of the Schengen Area. Croatia joined the European Union six years later than Bulgaria and Romania, in 2013.
Fulfilling any issue regarding to corruption and internal problems, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were granted a vote for their accession in the Schengen Area on December 8, 2022, with the effect to have been acceding the Schengen Area on January 1, 2023. However, Austria andthe Netherlands kept protesting over Bulgaria and Romania's accession, calling for another reforms to be fulfilled in order for the countries to be granted in the Area. Therefore, on the day of voting, Romania saw opposition from Austria, while Bulgaria saw opposition from both Austria and the Netherlands. While Croatia was granted and officially joined the Schengen Area on January 1, Bulgaria and Romania were not, and were, as late as December 2023, not in the Schengen Area.[3]
The veto caused outrage in Romania. The Government of Romania announced that relations between the two nations were going to be significantly reduced. The ambassador in Vienna,Emil Hurezeanu, was withdrawn, and the government advised Romanian citizens to not travel to Austria for skiing vacations, the main reason of Romanians travelling to Austria. Museums, universities and other organizations began boycotting any sort of cooperation with Austrian companies, and Austrian companies saw a wave of protests at their branches in Romania.[4][5]
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