European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ilva Johansson expressed today the hope that the Council of the EU will decide to drop checks on the Bulgarian and Romanian Schengen borders by the end of her mandate. It is planned that the current composition of the European Commission will work until December 1.
I hope there will be a decision by the end of the mandate, she told journalists in Luxembourg, where she arrived to participate in a meeting of EU interior ministers. We have very good experience with the abolition of air border checks, it is time to abolish land border checks as well, added the European Commissioner.
It is important to preserve free movement in Schengen, Johansson pointed out. Movement across internal borders in the EU should not be hindered, urged the European Commissioner on the occasion of Germany's decision to resume border checks.
The Council of the EU will discuss today at a meeting in Luxembourg the current state of application of the Schengen legislation by Bulgaria and Romania.
Interior ministers will discuss the general state of the Schengen area. The European Commission will present a report on Schengen with data from the last two years. The document will outline the threats to the common space without border checks. The ministers will also discuss the issue of increasing the resilience of the EU's external borders.
The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU will present data on the current status of the full implementation of the Schengen legislation in Bulgaria and Romania, according to the agenda of the meeting. It is noted that our country and Romania were admitted to Schengen by the decision of the EU Council on December 30 last year. Since the spring of this year, checks on the sea and air Schengen borders of the two countries have been abolished, as the Council of the EU did not reach the necessary unanimity for a decision to end checks on the land borders as well. Setting a date for the removal of these final checks requires an additional decision, the document for the upcoming meeting explains.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said earlier this week in Strasbourg on this occasion that the presidency is seeking to include the topic on the agenda of interior ministers. According to him, Austria has not yet changed its position and remains the only one that is not ready to provide the necessary unanimity for a further decision.