Romania’s full accession to the Schengen Area is in Hungary’s national interest and will finally happen during the Hungarian EU Presidency, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has vowed.
He made the promise after talks with Romanian Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu in Bucharest on Wednesday.
The minister said the lifting of road checks between Romania and Hungary would reduce lines that can stretch for miles (kilometers) in busy periods and free up ten road links which are currently only available to motorists on Saturdays, Világgazdaság reported.
With Romania a fully-fledged member of the Schengen Zone, there would be 22 land border crossings, making communication between Hungarian communities on both sides of the border “simpler and easier,” he said.
Romania and neighbor Bulgaria partially joined Schengen through its air and sea border crossings at the end of March, but are still waiting for full admission.
Romania is one of Hungary’s most important export markets, he the Hungarian foreign minister said.“We can only gain” from our neighbor’s Schengen accession. “This is why we are doing everything possible to ensure that Romania can enter the Schengen area during the Hungarian EU Presidency.”
Mr Szijjártó said he hoped that the Western European countries will also support Romania’s entry.
The two ministers on Wednesday signed an agreement on cross-border law enforcement cooperation to help fight illegal migrants, smugglers and criminal gangs during the Wednesday visit
EU member states voted on the accession of Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area in 2022, but only Croatia was admitted at the time.
Austria and refused to support Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession citing illegal migration and porous borders. Romania said the criticism was unfounded. The Netherlands also opposed Bulgaria’s accession.
