Romania is better positioned than it was last year to complete its full accession to the Schengen Zone, the Romanian Interior Minister has said.
Cătălin Predoiu said he expected his country to have full accession to the passport-free zone in a year.
However, he said that the current political situation is more complex than last year which , affects the dynamic nature of the accession process.
Predoiu expressed his optimism regarding Romania’s full accession to Schengen Zone, in terms of land borders, during an informal JAI Council in Budapest, Schengen.News reports.
“We are better positioned than last year because we were a non-member state, and now we are a Schengen member state. Yes, it is true, only with two out of three borders, but we are still inside Schengen,” he said.
He said that there has been no precedent of a Schengen member state significantly delaying the entire accession after partial entry with one or two borders.
Asked about the timeframe for full accession, the said a one-year period as a plausible expectation. Romania and Bulgaria officially joined the Schengen Area, expanding the participating countries to 29 on March 31. This led to the removal of internal air and sea border controls, in both countries, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported.
Earlier this month, Hungary’s deputy interior minister Bence Retvari spoke of the importance of including Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen by the end of this year.
Hungary currently holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, which started on July 1, 2024, and will last until the end of this year.
Insisting that unnecessary delays should be avoided Retvari stressed the importance of keeping the issue of Schengen accession in terms of land borders on the EU Council agenda.
Romania and Bulgaria still have land border controls.
MEPs call for quick Schengen accession for Bulgaria and Romania
