Romania and Bulgaria could fully join the Schengen area in January 2025, Hungary said today and added that the final decision will be taken next month at the meeting of EU interior ministers, Reuters reported.
Romania and Bulgaria partially joined the Schengen area in March after negotiating a deal with Austria, which had initially opposed their admission, arguing they needed to do more to prevent illegal migration.
Although air and sea border checks between them and the other 27 member countries of the free movement zone were abolished, negotiations with Austria on land entry continued throughout 2024.
„Both countries have taken significant steps to gain full membership,” Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pinter told a press conference after talks with his counterparts from Romania, Bulgaria and Austria. “We are… one step closer to Bulgaria and Romania becoming full Schengen members, he added.
According to Pinter, a package of security measures will be presented at a meeting of EU interior ministers on December 12, and it includes measures according to which at least 100 border guards will protect the border between Turkey and Bulgaria .
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on Monday that the two countries would join the Schengen area next year, but added that the meeting in Budapest where the four interior ministers will agree on the final document was “critically important”.< /p>
Cholaku said that the Parliament of the Netherlands – who opposes the accession of Bulgaria – will also need to approve the document.
Romania and Bulgaria pass through major routes for the illegal trade in arms and drugs, as well as human trafficking, but the European Commission says that a thorough investigation has found that both countries meet the requirements to join the Schengen area.
Romania calls Austria's opposition unfair, citing data from the border agency Frontex that show illegal migrants enter the EU mainly through the Western Balkans, not Romania.