site.btaInterior Ministers of Austria, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary to Discuss Current Migration Policy in Budapest

The current migration policy will be on the agenda of a meeting of Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov and his counterparts from Austria, Romania and Hungary at a meeting in Budapest on Friday, the Interior Ministry said. 

The meeting has been organized by the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the aim is to discuss upcoming steps to abolish land border controls for Bulgaria and Romania within the Schengen area.

The talks will review the current migration situation and the results of enhanced police cooperation in the region, as well as the compensatory measures applied following the lifting of controls at the air and sea borders on March 31 this year. Also, ministers will discuss possible future steps and commitments of the countries.

Ahead of the meeting in Budapest of the interior ministers of Austria, Romania and Bulgaria, dedicated to the Schengen enlargement, expectations in Austria are high, the Austrian news agency APA reports. 

Austria's Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said, "We see that these efforts are paying off and we want to continue on this path and adopt a new package," he stressed. 

The new package is due to be finalized tomorrow in Budapest. 

In recent days, the issue has been discussed in telephone conversations between Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu and his Hungarian counterpart Sandor Pinter, as well as in a videoconference between Atanas Ilkov and Catalin Predoiu.

President Rumen Radev also commented on the issue, saying that there would be no difference between Bulgaria and Romania on their way to Schengen. We expect a positive result, but my appeal, as well as that of a number of leaders I spoke to in Budapest, is not to rush to speculations on this issue. We are waiting for positive news from 12 December, President Radev said.

Austria's Ambassador to the country Andrea Ikic-Bohm noted on Tuesday the huge progress of Bulgaria, Commissioner General Anton Zlatanov, Director of the General Directorate of Border Police, said after the visit to the border crossing Kapitan Andreevo. “On a professional level, all institutions are ready for Bulgaria to work as a full Schengen state and this will happen for sure,” Zlatanov said.