Vote on Romania and Bulgaria’s Schengen accession may take place on 12 December

On 12 December in Brussels, the interior ministers of the Member States of the European Union will vote on the Hungarian proposal regarding the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Friday in Budapest in a press statement he made after his talks with Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.

Today we had, we have important talks in Budapest, the interior ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania are conducting talks about the extension of the Schengen Area to Romania and Bulgaria, he stated.

He recalled that at present Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. "When we last met with the Prime Minister in Bucharest, we agreed that we must use the Hungarian presidency for accelerating the process of Romania's accession to the Schengen Area," he said, adding that the present situation is unfair on Romania which has made enormous efforts in the past few years and has for some time fully met all conditions of becoming part of the Schengen Area.

Mr Orbán welcomed the fact that at the Friday meeting in Budapest, the attending interior ministers chose an approach via the issue of illegal migration. Today, the interior ministers agreed that the number of illegal border crossings must be significantly reduced and the fight against illegal migration must be intensified, he added. By his account, they concluded that both Romania and Bulgaria had made fantastic progress in this regard, and Hungarians, Austrians, Romanians and Bulgarians all agreed that all the obstacles had been removed which had to date made it impossible for Romania to join the Schengen Area.

At the Friday meeting, the parties managed to agree that all four countries will be working hard so that from 1 January Romania may become a full member of the Schengen Area not only via airports, but also by land, he stated.

The decision on this - which is subject to the agreement of the interior ministers of all Member States of the EU - will be adopted on 12 December in Brussels where the Hungarian presidency will table a proposal on the basis of today's meeting in Budapest, Mr Orbán indicated.

According to his expectations, in this process Budapest will be famous for the fact that it hosted the negotiations which removed the last obstacle and opened the way to formal decisions.

If everything goes to plan, from 1 January vehicular traffic will no longer stop at the Hungarian-Romanian border, he stated, underlining that "this will be a great moment in all our lives."

Mr Orbán said on Friday he also spoke to Mr Ciolacu about bilateral issues. He observed that a Romanian prime minister had last visited Budapest in 2008, and therefore "it was timely to rectify this state of affairs.".

The Hungarian Prime Minister described economic relations between the two countries as fantastic as bilateral trade keeps increasing both in volume and in value. He also agreed with his Romanian counterpart that they regarded the issue of investing in each other's countries as important, and would continue to support the appearance of products from Romania on the Hungarian market as well as the appearance of products from Hungary on the Romanian market, he observed.

Mr Orbán highlighted that economic cooperation and accession to the Schengen Area were especially important for communities living in the border regions which at present found themselves in an unjust and unfair situation. Local communities will finally be able to organise relations with each other as required by the natural order of life, he indicated.

He also said, simultaneously with the Schengen accession, several border crossing roads which were only open at the weekends will be opened.

Mr Orbán thanked the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) for its contribution to Romania's Schengen accession.