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Hungary will include the issue of lifting checks at the Bulgarian and Romanian Schengen borders on the EU agenda in December

by AI | 11.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

Commissioner Johansson is optimistic that there will be a positive decision.

Sandor Pinter photo: EU Press Service

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LUXEMBOURG/STRASBOURG – The Hungarian presidency of the EU Council will put the question of lifting checks at the Schengen land borders of Bulgaria and Romania on the agenda of the European interior ministers (for the meeting on December 12). This was announced at a press conference by the Hungarian Minister of the Interior, Sándor Pintér, following the meeting of his colleagues in Luxembourg. I hope for a positive decision, he added.

At a press conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán clarified this week that Austria remains the only one that currently has reservations about such a decision. At the end of 2023, Austria did not support the complete removal of Schengen checks for Bulgaria and Romania.

I do not make predictions and I do not make promises, but I believe that a big step forward is coming, Minister Pintér said at the press conference after the meeting in Luxembourg.

Bulgaria and Romania fully apply the Schengen legislation, noted the European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson. A decision regarding the land borders remains to be made. The two countries are in Schengen, I expect the next decision of the EU Council very soon, she said. I am in contact with Austria and that is why I am very optimistic, said Johansson, who again expressed her hope that the decision would be made by the end of her term (December).

Bulgaria and Romania apply Schengen legislation excellently, fulfilling all conditions and even more. A very good job has been done, summarized Johansson. We received extremely serious support for full Schengen membership, said the Acting Minister of the Interior Atanas Ilkov to Bulgarian journalists in Luxembourg.

According to him, a high assessment was given at the meeting of the EU Council for the joint activities between Bulgaria and Romania, and for the good bilateral cooperation. Ilkov reported that he spoke with his Austrian colleague, but so far there is no categorical position from Vienna. I can’t say what it will be in the coming days, added the minister.

There is no requirement for us that we have not fulfilled, Ilkov clarified in response to a question from BTA. We have fulfilled more than what is required of us in terms of increasing the capacity of the Border Police with all the technical equipment, with all measures to counteract organized criminal groups for illegal trafficking, with good interaction with Romania, Austria, and other European countries, with strategic cooperation with Turkey, which is a very important element of our activity, Ilkov noted.

According to a survey by Eurobarometer, presented earlier in the week by the European Commission, the majority of Bulgarians believe that Schengen is among the main achievements of the EU – for 76% of Bulgarian participants in the survey Schengen enables communication with people from other cultures first and foremost; 74% believe that the space without border checks is beneficial for business. Over 60% of Bulgarian participants in the survey say that Schengen improves security, and over 50% believe that in the coming years more efforts should be put into guarding the EU’s external borders. (October 9-10)

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