European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson expressed today expectation that by the end of the year there will be a decision on the abolition of the internal land Schengen borders of Bulgaria and Romania, BNR reported.
She spoke to journalists in Luxembourg, where the two-day meeting of the EU Council on Justice and Home Affairs begins, BTA reported.
Bulgaria and Romania are in Schengen, all that remains is to remove internal (land) border checks. I foresee that happening this year, Johansson said.
Belgian Interior Minister Anneliese Verlinden indicated that she is strongly convinced of the need for Schengen to have no internal border checks. The security of the citizens must be ensured, intensified checks on the external borders are necessary, she said.
We are working, I hope we will make progress, added the minister in response to a question about the expectation of Sofia and Bucharest, and the resistance of Vienna. In December last year, Austria was the only country in the EU that did not support a complete abolition of border checks at the Bulgarian and Romanian Schengen borders.