site.btaRomanian, Hungarian Interior Ministers Discuss Schengen Enlargement

Romania’s accession to the Schengen border-free area by land was discussed by telephone on Wednesday between the country’s Internal Affairs Minister Catalin Predoiu and Sandor Pinter, the Interior Minister of Hungary, the nation which holds the rotating EU Council Presidency. The news was reported by Predoiu in a short video on the official YouTube channel of his ministry.

Romania and Bulgaria obtained partial membership of Schengen after joining the area by air and sea on March 31.

In the video, Predoiu says that good conditions are in place for a November 22 meeting in Budapest which will bring together the interior ministers of Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Austria and European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson.

Predoiu says: “With today’s discussion, I completed a series of three meetings with the Austrian minister, Gerhard Karner, the Bulgarian minister, Atanas Ilkov, and the Hungarian minister, Sandor Pinter, during which we sought to align our positions to ensure that the Budapest meeting makes another step forward in bringing Romania into Schengen by land. All three discussions went very well, and we achieved our goal, which was to create good conditions for the discussion in Budapest. I will continue to work with my counterparts with utmost intensity for Romania’s accession to Schengen just as I have done since I took office, to ensure that the Budapest meeting is successful and represents a step forward before the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels on December 12.”

On Monday, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in an interview with Antena 3 television that Romania will join Schengen by land in January 2025. Meanwhile, the Financial Times said: “Austria is expected to drop its veto on Romania and Bulgaria’s full accession to Europe’s Schengen borderless travel zone, paving the way for the two countries to become fully fledged members after more than a decade of disagreement.”