The European Union has given Bulgaria and Romania permission to become full members of the border-free Schengen zone starting next year, according to officials.
Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pinter, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, called the two countries’ accession a “historic moment” at a meeting of ministers on Thursday.
The decision comes after a 13-year journey to accede to the two EU and NATO members, who were finally cleared for entry after Austria agreed to drop its veto, which it had previously imposed on undocumented immigration. was used due to concerns about
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis called the accession a “natural and necessary step” that will significantly reduce waiting times at borders, lower logistics costs for businesses and create attractiveness for foreign investors.
He said in a statement that Schengen membership has been a strategic goal for our country. “Over time, despite Romania’s technical readiness to meet Schengen standards over the years, numerous obstacles have arisen.”
In March, the two countries were partially admitted to Schengen, removing air and sea border checks between the two countries and the other 27 countries in the travel zone, but land restrictions remained in place.
Austria dropped its remaining objections after the two countries signed a “border protection package” deal in Budapest.
According to Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Körner, the agreement foresees the joint deployment of border guards on the Bulgarian-Turkish border and temporary border control on land routes for six months.
Koerner said on Monday that the number of migrants being stopped near Austria’s border with Hungary has fallen due to calls for his country to crack down on undocumented immigration.
He claimed that membership of Romania and Bulgaria could not have been reduced without a veto, citing figures of 70,000 obstructions from October to October last year, compared to just 4,000 in the same period this year.
Created in 1985, the Schengen zone now consists of 29 members – 25 of the 27 EU member states plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
It is the world’s largest area without internal border controls, where more than 400 million people can travel freely within the zone.
As the two countries join the Schengen travel free zone, it has emerged that 54% of Brexit voters in the UK have buyer’s remorse and would now accept the return of full free movement in exchange for access to the EU’s single market. will
The findings were contained in a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations, which concluded that “the time has come for a reassessment of EU-UK relations”.