Austria is expected to lift its veto on Romania and Bulgaria's full Schengen accession, paving the way for both countries to become full members after more than a decade of disagreements, writes “Financial Times”, BTA reported.
Vienna is now ready to lift its ban at a meeting of interior ministers from Austria, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary in Budapest on Friday, the publication claims. If that happens, the accession of the two neighboring countries will have to be formalized, possibly at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on December 12. This would allow all restrictions to be lifted early next year, notes the “Financial Times”.
The accession of Romania to Schengen by land was discussed today by the country's interior minister Katalin Predoiu with his Hungarian colleague Sandor Pinter. This was announced by Predoyu in a short video message published on the official YouTube channel of the department he heads.
In the video, the Romanian interior minister states that "good" prerequisites for the meeting to be held in Budapest on November 22. It will be attended by the Ministers of the Interior of Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, as well as the European Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johansson.
„With this discussion today I ended a series of three consecutive meetings with the Austrian Minister Gerhard Karner, the Bulgarian Minister Atanas Ilkov and the Hungarian Minister Sándor Pinter, in which we aimed to harmonize the positions so that the meeting in Budapest leads to a new step forward for Romania's accession to Schengen with land borders. All three talks 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 colleagues with maximum intensity for Romania's accession to Schengen, as I have done since taking office, so that the Budapest meeting is a success and represents a step forward in the perspective of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 12 December in Brussels”, Katalin Predoyu said.
Yesterday, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on Antena3 TV that Romania will join Schengen by land from January 2025.