The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, has proposed that Romania and Bulgaria become full members of the Schengen Area by the end of 2024.
Presenting the program of the Hungarian rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in the plenum of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Orban said that the asylum system in the EU does not function, Schengen.News reports.
Irregular migration concerns led to delays in both Balkan countries’ membership to the Schengen Zone, with attempts to achieve this goal going on for over ten years.
While both Romania and Bulgaria joined the Schengen Area partially through air and sea on March 31, 2024, land border monitoring is still operational.
As Romania-Insider explains, in response to concerns related to irregular migration to Bucharest and Sofia and in Europe as a whole, Orban said that the EU policy on migration failed.
EU Council Discusses Progress of Romania & Bulgaria Today
Today, on October 10, the EU Council will discuss the progress made by these two countries towards full Schengen membership.
Hungary, as the holder of the presidency of the Council of EU, will report on the progress of Romania and Bulgaria’s full implementation of the Schengen acquis at the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council meeting in Luxembourg.
Budapest has several times reiterated that the full membership of the two countries is among the top priorities of Hungary, which holds the presidency until December 2024.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto emphasised last month that the country is doing everything possible in this regard.
Partial Accession Costing Billions to Romania & Bulgaria
Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, and in the same year, both applied to become part of the Schengen Area.
In spite of meeting all the technical requirements since 2011, they are still waiting for full Schengen accession.
However, hopes in both countries that full membership in Schengen will be finalised by the end of this year have not ceased.
Romanian Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu previously said that Romania is better positioned this year when it comes to this issue.
Last month, the Head of the European Commission’s Representation in Bulgaria, Yordanka Chobanova, also expressed her hopes that a positive decision will be taken.
Land border controls affect both countries’ tourism sectors the most. Remaining outside Schengen in terms of land borders leads to long daily delays and queues, with waiting times ranging from 20 to more than 200 minutes.
In addition, the costs Bulgaria must pay for the maintained land border controls surpass €834 million per year. At the same time, Romania lost €2.32 billion in annual revenues, according to the statistics provided by the European Economic and Social Committee.
Losses for Romania’s transport operators reach €90 million per year as a result of delays at the land borders.
Discussing the financial losses registered in both countries, BIA president Dobri Mitev said Romania and Bulgaria should be full members of Schengen, stressing that “the security issue is of primary relevance and we can tackle it only via full Schengen integration.”
Source: https://schengen.news/hungary-calls-for-romania-bulgarias-full-schengen-membership-to-be-finalised-by-end-of-2024/
