Austria lifts long-held veto on the Schengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria

Austria has agreed to lift its long-held veto on the accession of Romania and Bulgaria into the passport-free Schengen Area, which the two Eastern European countries have for years sought to achieve only to be met with Vienna's resistance.

The breakthrough was announced on Friday afternoon by the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council, which hosted a meeting in Budapest with the interior ministers of Romania, Bulgaria and Austria.

The three ministers signed a "joint agreement" to pave the way for complete Schengen membership, a Hungarian spokesperson said. The statement highlights "progress" made in curbing irregular migration and asylum claims across the three countries, and includes a pledge to speed up deportations of rejected applicants.

In practice, the deal means the abolition of checks at internal land borders, the last remaining hurdle. Early this year, passport checks at sea and air borders were permanently removed in a first concession by Vienna.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, welcomed the news, saying Romania and Bulgaria "belong fully" to the Schengen area.

"Let 2025 see Schengen become stronger," von der Leyen said.

Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament, was equally positive, saying "a stronger Schengen means a stronger Europe."

To become a reality, the Budapest agreement needs to be unanimously endorsed by member states, a process expected to go smoothly.

Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, who took part in the ministerial meeting, said the vote would happen on 12-13 December and that, "hopefully" by 1 January, the checks at land borders would be completely removed.

"This is a great moment," Johansson said in a video message. "I'm very happy today."

The exclusion of Romania and Bulgaria from the Schengen Area, which encompasses 450 million people and the vast majority of member states, has been a recurring source of friction between the two countries and Austria, the prime hold-out.

Vienna said the continued arrival of irregular migrants was proof that Schengen was "not working" and further enlargement was not warranted. Bucarest and Sofia contested this claim, arguing neither of them were part of the Western Balkan route through which thousands of migrants irregularly enter the bloc every year.

Brussels strongly backed their bids: since 2011, the European Commission, which is tasked with assessing Schengen candidacies, has insisted that Romania and Bulgaria were "ready" to join and pleaded with Austria to drop the veto.

The Netherlands was also initially opposed but eventually relented.

The breakthrough comes at a delicate moment for Schengen: several member states, like Germany and France, have re-introduced border checks in a bid to control irregular migration, even if experts cast doubt about the effectiveness of this unilateral measure.

According to the joint statement signed on Friday, temporary border controls will be established between Hungary and Romania and between Romania and Bulgaria for at least six months to "prevent any serious threat to public policy and internal security."

This article has been updated with more information.