1. Austria’s announcement that it agrees with Romania and Bulgaria being admitted to the Schengen area with airports only, calling for certain conditions to be met by the two countries, as well as the European Union, has sparked controversy in the public space.
Some are for the acceptance of the conditions, seeing in the Austrian decision a great victory for Romania. Others plead for the rejection of the conditions, considering both the partial character and the imposition of the conditions a defeat for Romania.
If we were to identify the two groups, we would distinguish them from the position occupied on the political spectrum.
The power, embodied by the SDP, led by Marcel Ciolacu, is wallowing with joy.
The opposition, embodied mainly by AUR, led by George Simion, denounces SDP’s position.
It is worth noting that the NLP, through President Nicolae Ciucă, adopted a cautious position.
SDP, through President Marcel Ciolacu, agrees with the conditions.
The controversy is obviously about the political battle.
SDP rushed to trumpet the victory by betting the electoral capital brought by our admission to Schengen with only one foot, and even that one wriggled through a slightly ajar door.
NLP is cautious for two reasons:
As they lost the chest beating competition, they prefer to minimize (discreetly, it goes without saying) the victory claimed by the SDP.
Setting the records straight inside the NLP comes into play as well. Cătălin Predoiu shares with Marcel Ciolacu the victory of admission to the lame Schengen.
Cătălin Predoiu is a serious and ambitious competitor of Nicolae Ciucă for the NLP leadership. How can Nicolae Ciucă be enthusiastic about a victory attributed to his opponent in the party?
The opposition, led by AUR, has every interest in talking about failure. The arguments of the Opposition are well-founded.
Romania has the legitimate right to be fully admitted into the Schengen area. A partial admission and particularly with conditions, means a humiliation of the Romanians.
AUR, through George Simion, insists on the condition of a significant number of illegal immigrants being taking over by Romania from Austria. Besides, George Simion is the most categorical in supporting the thesis that we’re facing a failure.
Like SRU, AUR has made our failure to join Schengen a battle centerpiece against Power.
While SRU is motivated to prove SDP as a party without support in Brussels, AUR is focused on castigating the way the EU humiliates us. AUR has every interest to reject SDP’s enthusiasm for other reasons:
– It fears that the admission with airports only will increase the electoral capital of the SDP in Diaspora.
– It is an anti-migration party by definition.
Without excluding the humiliation of Romania if the admission with conditions is accepted, we would insist on the practical effect of the admittance:
Once admitted only to AIR Schengen, we will never ever join the Schengen area completely.
It is one thing to be granted staged accession to Schengen, in other words to have the guarantee that you will be admitted by the land as well, and it is another thing to be accepted with airports only, the land being the subject of a later decision.
Total rejection gave us the strength to fight. Once you enter the house, even if only in the porch, it will be difficult for us to keep complain that we did not enter the whole house.
From a strictly electoral point of view, the SDP bags a significant victory. Romanians have become accustomed to little when it comes to the masters from outside.
How can they reject something they consider a gift?
2. The Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was rejected by the US veto.
Basically, only America voted against it. The resolution, proposed by the United Arab Emirates and supported by 100 countries, aimed to end the incredible suffering of the civilian population in Gaza following the invasion of Israel.
Israel has opposed any humanitarian break. The reason invoked would be the danger that Hamas would have time to regroup. It’s a false motive.
Hamas knows that the war with a military force such as Israel, supported by the US, cannot be won. Therefore, if they didn’t prepare before the invasion, it’s hard to believe they would now.
Israel’s genuine but hidden motive is a demonstration of revenge. The Gaza campaign is one of punishment. Not only of the terrorists, but also of the Palestinians, who chose to be led by Hamas. Therefore, the hidden purpose of the operation is to inflict as much suffering as possible on the civilian population.
Through its Veto, America confirmed that it supports this operation of punishment. Even if it wants to give the impression that it is reluctant.
3. Marcel Ciolacu’s visit to the USA ended up with a strange discretion
Although in the opening of the Government meeting on Friday, the PM mentioned a few things about the practical results, in reality, the visit was what Marcel Ciolacu intended to be:
A demonstration that he is accepted in America.
The objective was achieved by:
– As many meetings as possible, arranged only by function and not by results.
– The launch in Romania, by the party and state media, of a huge advertising campaign meant to flag to Romanians that Marcel Ciolacu is in America.
It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t do much there. The important thing is that he’s in America.
It is not by chance that the interviews conducted in America referred to the political situation in Romania and not to the results of the visit.
Through the many proposals regarding the national life, Marcel Ciolacu wanted the press to signal his presence in America.
