Romania and Bulgaria may become full members of Europe's borderless Schengen travel zone in January 2025, Hungary said on Friday, adding a final decision would be made at next month's meeting of EU interior ministers.
Romania and Bulgaria may become full members of Europe's borderless Schengen travel zone in January 2025, Hungary said on Friday, adding a final decision would be made at next month's meeting of EU interior ministers.
Romania and Bulgaria, both European Union and NATO members, partly joined Schengen in March, after an agreement with Austria which initially opposed their joining on the grounds they needed to do more to prevent illegal immigration.
While air and maritime border checks between them and the other 27 countries in the travel zone were lifted, negotiations with Austria over land entry have continued through 2024.
"The two countries have made significant steps to gain full membership," Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter told a news conference after talks with his Romanian, Bulgarian and Austrian counterparts.
"We are...one step closer to Bulgaria and Romania becoming full members of Schengen."
Pinter said a package of security measures would be presented at a meeting of EU interior ministers on Dec. 11, including arrangements for at least 100 border guards to protect the border between Turkey and Bulgaria.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on Monday that the two countries would join the Schengen area next year but described the Budapest meeting, where the four interior ministers would agree the final document, as "crucial".
Ciolacu said the Dutch parliament - which has opposed Bulgaria's joining - would also need to approve the document.
Romania and Bulgaria are on major routes for the illegal trade in arms and drugs as well as human trafficking, but the European Commission said after a thorough investigation they met all Schengen requirements.
Romania has described Austrian opposition as unjustified, citing data from border agency Frontex showing illegal migrants have mainly entered the EU from the Western Balkans, not Romania.
Indonesian authorities are investigating food poisoning cases involving nearly 700 children in Yogyakarta province this week, after students ate meals...
Britain said on Wednesday it had agreed to a deal with Vietnam to curb illegal migration in what it described as the strongest Hanoi had ever agreed w...
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, announced that he had ordered the Department...
U.S. President Donald Trump met with China's leader Xi Jinping at a South Korean air base on Thursday for discussions on a possible trade war truce be...
Hundreds of civilians were reportedly killed by the Rapid Support Forces at the main hospital in el-Fasher, days after the militia captured the Sudane...
The United States plans to cut the number of troops stationed on Europe's eastern flank, including soldiers who were to be stationed at Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu air base.
Bulgaria has confirmed its readiness to facilitate a potential summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Budapest by permitting Putin's aircraft to traverse its airspace.
Bulgarian authorities have detained Igor Grechushkin, the Russian owner of a cargo ship linked to the ammonium nitrate at the heart of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, Lebanese judicial officials said.
Belgium has approved the transfer of four decommissioned minehunters to Bulgaria under a contract worth €24 million (over $28 million).
A small, silent object from another star is cutting through the Solar System. It’s real, not a film, and one scientist thinks it might be sending a message.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
A shooting in Nice, southeastern France, left two people dead and five injured on Friday, authorities said.
Indonesian authorities are investigating food poisoning cases involving nearly 700 children in Yogyakarta province this week, after students ate meals prepared under President Prabowo Subianto's key free school meal programme, an official said.
Britain said on Wednesday it had agreed to a deal with Vietnam to curb illegal migration in what it described as the strongest Hanoi had ever agreed with another country.
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, announced that he had ordered the Department of Defense to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing on an “equal footing” with other nuclear powers.
U.S. President Donald Trump met with China's leader Xi Jinping at a South Korean air base on Thursday for discussions on a possible trade war truce between the world's two largest economies.
Hundreds of civilians were reportedly killed by the Rapid Support Forces at the main hospital in el-Fasher, days after the militia captured the Sudanese city, the head of the UN health agency said.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment