Schengen enlargement: No border controls between Transylvania and Hungary from 1 January

The European Union’s Justice and Home Affairs Council has decided to remove checks on persons at the internal land borders with and between Bulgaria and Romania from Jan 1, 2025, the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU said on Thursday.

Schengen enlargement

“It is a historic moment to finally welcome Bulgaria and Romania as full Schengen members,” a statement from Brussels cited Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér as saying.

Speaking to the media before the council meeting, Pintér said Bulgaria and Romania were ready to join the Schengen zone. The minister expressed hope that a decision would be taken on approving the two member states’ Schengen membership.

He pointed out that Hungary supported the Schengen accession of Bulgaria and Romania as early as 2011 when it first held the EU presidency.

“I believe that if a country is technically ready, has made huge efforts and initiated regulatory changes, then they deserve to become part of the Schengen area,” Pintér said.

Pintér said the ministers would also discuss the EU’s home affairs strategic guidelines, adding that the current guidelines were adopted ten years ago so they had to be renewed.

Another point on the agenda of the meeting is online child abuse. On this, Pintér said he expected to see a serious clash as there were arguments both for individual and personal rights and for the protection of children.

Photo: facebook.com/PoliceHungaryOfficial

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