Romania's Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs Catalin Predoiu, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, Hungary's Minister of Interior Sandor Pinter, Austria's Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner and Bulgaria's Minister of Interior Atanas Ilkov attend a press conference on the expansion of the Schengen area, in Budapest on November 22, 2024. Photo by Peter Kohalmi / AFP.
Budapest: Austria is open to Romania and Bulgaria's full entry into Europe's vast borderless Schengen area, its interior minister said on Friday as the three countries signed an agreement in Budapest.
The two eastern European countries -- both members of the EU since 2007 -- were partially integrated into the Schengen zone this year, opening up travel by air and sea without border checks.
A green light from Vienna -- which held up their full entry over migration concerns -- would mean free movement could extend to their land routes as soon as next year.
"We have taken another definite step in the right direction," Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner declared after signing a "border protection package" with his Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts.
The agreement foresees the joint deployment of border guards to the Bulgarian-Turkish border, and temporary border controls on land routes "for a certain period of time" according to Karner.
Karner vowed Vienna will reach a decision on the two countries' Schengen bid by December 12, when EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers meet in Brussels to vote on the issue.
Romania and Bulgaria will join the borderless area if all 27 EU member states approve their applications.
Bucharest and Sofia fulfilled all technical criteria set out by Brussels in 2010, but spent more than a decade waiting to join the Schengen zone as various member states blocked the two countries' entry.
Since 2022, their applications have been held up by Austria, which had for years complained about having to host a disproportionate number of undocumented immigrants as a result of poorly protected external Schengen borders.
Created in 1985, the Schengen zone, currently comprises 29 members -- 25 of the 27 European Union member states as well as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
It is the world's biggest area without internal border controls, more than 400 million people can travel freely inside the zone.
