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Romania may join Schengen Zone via land borders by March 2025

by DD Staff

November 08, 2024

key takeaways

According to Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, complete land-border Schengen membership may be achieved by March 2025.

On March 31, 2024, Romania made a partial air and sea entry into the Schengen Zone; nevertheless, Schengen currently maintains land border restrictions.news articles.

Prior to today's government meeting, the Romanian prime minister made some remarks.

Informal Decision Could Be Reached Before December 8

Romania will have presidential elections on November 24, 2024. A second round of elections will take place on December 8, 2024, if no candidate obtains a second vote.

Regarding land border accession, the Romanian prime minister stated that a decision might be made prior to the second round of presidential elections on December 8.

According to Ciolacu, the complete Schengen Zone admission of Romania will be decided by the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COREPER) during its meeting in the Justice and Home Affairs Council on December 13.

By spring 2025, land border restrictions will be eliminated if a favourable verdict is made.

The progress of Romania on the full application of the Schengen acquis was also reported by the holder of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Hungary, at the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting held on October 10, 2024. However, no vote was part of the agenda.

Besides, the Prime Minister of Hungary, Victor Orban, last month called for the full accession of Romania to the Schengen Zone by the end of this year.

Romanian PM Believes Full Schengen Membership to Be Acquired This Year

The Prime Minister of Romania has continuously expressed his belief that the membership of Romania, in terms of land borders, will be finalised by the end of this year.

Last month, expressing his hopes that the abolishment of border controls would happen shortly, Ciolacu told local media that he had additional information permitting him to make such statements.

He said that a good dialogue is on the way with Austria, the country that does not support the land border accession of Romania to the Schengen Zone.

I, the Minister of Internal Affairs (Cătălin Predoiu), and the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Luminița Odobescu) have had good dialogue with our partners within the European Union, the Austrians.
--the Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu

Austria has blocked the membership of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Zone for years now, citing irregular migration concerns.

In spite of the fact that both countries have met all the needed conditions to become full members of the block, last month, Austria’s Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, said that the time for these countries to join Schengen concerning land borders has not yet arrived.