Romania will be granted access to the Schengen land border by the end of December, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on Thursday, confident that Romanians can cross the border without checks as early as March next year.
Ciolacu said COREPER could decide on Romania and Bulgaria joining Schengen with land borders early next month, followed by the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) on 13 December. This means land border controls would be lifted in March, allowing Romanians to travel within the EU without border checks by Easter 2025 (20 April).
“During the Easter holidays, Romanians will very likely be able to travel within the Schengen Area,” Ciolacu said at the start of Thursday’s government meeting.
“Discussions and negotiations are still ongoing,” said Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu, welcoming a statement by Magnus Brunner, the Austrian Commissioner-designate for Home Affairs and Migration, during a European Parliament hearing in the LIBE committee.
Brunner expressed his support for the rapid accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen land border area.
At the same hearing, Bulgarian MEP Emil Radev (GERB/EPP) raised concerns about the need for additional funding to secure borders in countries such as Bulgaria as part of their preparations for Schengen accession.
“I will work to see the Schengen Area fully unified,” replied Brunner, who was nominated by Austria—the country that last year vetoed Romania and Bulgaria’s full accession to the Schengen area in the JHA.
(Catalina Mihai | Euractiv.ro)
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