The abolishment of Schengen land borders for Bulgaria and Romania will be among the main priorities of Hungary starting next month, the Hungarian Ambassador to the EU, Balint Odor, has said.
Ambassador Odor added that among main tasks is also reducing the number of migrants arriving illegally in these territories, Schengen.News reports.
From July 1, Hungary will hold the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, which will run until December 2024.
Bulgaria and Romania partially entered the Schengen Zone by air and sea on March 31, becoming the newest members of the EU passport-free travel zone.
The Schengen accession of these two Member States will make the common area more attractive by significantly expanding the world’s largest common area without internal border controls.
However, land border controls continue to remain effective.
In April this year, the European Parliament urged for the abolishment of land border controls as well for these two Balkan countries.
MEPs said that as a result of land border controls, hundreds of goods vehicles are detained every day at the European Union’s land borders.
Hungary Vows for Enlargement of Western Balkans
The Hungarian Ambassador to the EU, Balint Odor, has said that among other priorities of his country’s Presidency is also the EU’s expansion to the Western Balkans and other candidate states from the eastern part of Europe.
Odor said that Hungary wants to make as much progress as possible with the Western Balkan countries and start substantive talks with Albania while moving forward with North Macedonia.
In order to achieve such a goal, Odor said that Hungary is ready to initiate an EU-Western Balkans meeting.
In addition, he said that his country would do everything possible for a smooth transition.
In February this year, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, said in Brussels that Hungary will be the most pro-enlargement European Union Presidency of all time, emphasizing that the focus during the accession talks would be on the “actual performance” of candidates instead of “bowing to political pressure.”
We will put the focus on actual performance during the accession talks, rather than bowing to some kind of political pressure which, in fact, comes from outside players, non-EU countries and NGOs.
Back then, the Minister said that Hungary aimed to help Serbia open new accession chapters while helping Montenegro close multiple chapters and start substantive negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova.
