New border protection package

Bulgaria & Romania Schengen members from 2025?

(Bild: cineberg - stock.adobe.com)

The interior ministers of Austria, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary agreed on a new border protection package in Budapest on Friday in order to set the course for the two Balkan countries Romania and Bulgaria to join Schengen.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) spoke of a "further important step towards a vote" at the EU Council of Interior Ministers in December. A decision will only be made in December, "let's cross the bridge when we are there", said Karner.

No more veto from Austria
Romanian Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu said at a joint press conference that Austria had no longer vetoed the decision. He was therefore confident that Romania would be successful in joining Schengen by the end of the year. "We have crossed a very important border today in Budapest."

Hungarian Interior Minister and current Council President Sándor Pintér also said that Bulgaria and Romania's full Schengen accession in January was possible. EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said that she hoped both countries would join Schengen in January. Both countries had fulfilled the necessary criteria.

New border protection package presented
The border protection package presented by the interior ministers on Friday provides for the countries participating in Budapest to send a joint contingent of one hundred border guards to the Bulgarian-Turkish border, as Pintér said. The details and exact contributions of the countries still have to be decided by December. In addition, internal border controls between Bulgaria and Romania will remain in place for a certain period of time, said Karner.

Karner praised the efforts made so far: Before Austria's Schengen veto in 2022, there had been around 70,000 apprehensions at Austria's eastern border, now there are 3,000, "we are moving towards zero". Bulgarian Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov said that his country had made great efforts. Bulgaria will deploy more than 1100 additional border police officers.

The Hungarian EU Presidency wants to reach a formal agreement on the admission of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area at the meeting of EU interior ministers on December 12. Romania and Bulgaria have already been members of "Schengen Air" since March, when air and sea border controls were lifted. However, full Schengen accession will only be achieved once the land borders have been opened.