Austria has scrapped objections to Romania and Bulgaria becoming full members of Europe’s Schengen free-travel area, the interior ministry said on Monday, paving the way for full membership.
European Union interior ministers are to approve the move at a meeting on Thursday.
EU and NATO members Romania and Bulgaria partly joined Schengen in March. But Austria placed a veto on full membership on the grounds they needed to do more to prevent illegal immigration.
On March 31, air and maritime border checks between them and the other 27 countries in the travel zone were lifted, but negotiations continued with Vienna over land entry throughout 2024.
“We can take the next step at the EU (Justice and Home Affairs) Council,” on Thursday Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement.
“After ‘Schengen Air’, ‘Schengen Land’ is now open to Romania and Bulgaria,” Karner said, adding that Austria’s demands on reducing illegal immigration had led to a decline in the number of migrants intercepted near Austria’s eastern border with Hungary.
“Without this veto this massive reduction in illegal border crossings would not have happened,” the minister said.
He said there were 70,000 migrants intercepted in from January-October last year compared to 4,000 in the same period this year.
