Both countries will become full members of the visa-free Schengen area. The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU informed about it on the X social network.
Romania and Bulgaria are ready to join the Schengen area, Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said in the morning before the meeting of the EU Council for Internal Affairs and Justice. Hungary currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU.
Pinter recalled that Hungary supported the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into Schengen already in 2011, when it held the EU presidency for the first time.
“I believe that if the country is technically ready, has made enormous efforts and initiated regulatory changes, then it deserves to become part of the Schengen area,” declared Pintér. In an official statement, he called the entry of both countries into the Schengen area as full members a “historic moment”.
“Abolishing checks on persons at the internal land borders with and between these member states was the highest priority of the Hungarian Presidency and today we have made it a reality. This step will benefit not only the citizens of Bulgaria and Romania, but also the EU as a whole,” he said.
Bulgaria and Romania have been applying some parts of the Schengen legal framework since their accession to the EU. This mainly concerns controls at external borders, police cooperation and the use of the Schengen Information System (SIS).
The entry was blocked by the Austrians
A great chance for entry into Schengen for both countries in December 2022 was blocked by Austria. The Austrian Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, ran away from the questions of Bulgarian and Romanian journalists in Brussels after the meeting of the EU Council. The shift occurred on December 30, 2023, when the member states took the decision to abolish checks on persons at the internal air and sea borders, i.e. at the airports and ports of both countries.
The European Commission declared both Bulgaria and Romania eligible for membership in the Schengen area already in 2011, which it has repeatedly confirmed since then. The European Parliament had the same attitude, which since 2011 has repeatedly called on the member states not to block the chances of both countries to enter Schengen.
Schengen is the largest free travel area in the world. Border controls between France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were first abolished in 1985. The Schengen area currently unites 29 countries (25 of the 27 member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and 420 million people. Internal border controls with Cyprus have not been abolished, and Ireland is not part of the Schengen area either.
