The lifting of Austrian veto for abolishing land border checks for Bulgaria and Romania in Schengen is not certain.
Tomorrow, 22 November, a meeting of the interior ministers of Bulgaria, Romania and Austria will take place in Budapest, where the final green light was expected to be given. However, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said that Vienna would probably not give a specific date, but new conditions.
Karner noted in an interview with APA that Sofia and Bucharest have made great progress in securing external borders and fighting illegal migrant trafficking: "the efforts are paying off, we want to go down this path and adopt a new package", which will be formulated tomorrow in the Hungarian capital.
"Austria is not a bystander, we are also working hard", the Austrian interior minister added.
Austria's conditions to Bulgaria and Romania include increased funds for external border security and more border checks between the two countries. The interior ministry in Vienna has already announced statistics on the significantly reduced number of illegal border crossings between Bulgaria and Romania. | BGNES
