site.btaRomania to Join Schengen by Land in January 2025 - PM Ciolacu

Romania will join the Schengen area by land from January 2025. The decision will be taken on Friday in Budapest, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in an interview with Antenna 3 television.

The Austrian news agency APA recently reported that Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner will meet his Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts in the Hungarian capital on November 22 to discuss the two countries' full accession to the Schengen area. These talks were initiated by the Hungarian rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.

"Friday's meeting is extremely important, which is why I have agreed with the Hungarian Prime Minister and will go to Hungary on the day when the interior ministers meet to draw up the final document," Ciolacu said. He commented that the Dutch Parliament, which opposed Bulgaria's accession, would also have to approve the document.

"However, we already have an approved timeline. The full Schengen accession will happen from January 1, 2025. Romanians who are going home for the holidays will find it much easier to leave after that," Ciolacu added.

He did not mention Bulgaria, but the accession of the two countries to Schengen is being treated as a package deal, Reuters notes. The agency points out that Romania and Bulgaria are major routes for the illegal arms trade and human and drug trafficking, but a thorough investigation by the European Commission has shown they meet all the requirements for Schengen.

Joining the free movement area would add half a percentage point to Romania's annual economic growth, the country's finance ministry estimates.