(Bloomberg) -- Romania and Bulgaria secured a deal that paves the way for full access to the European Union’s vast passport-free travel almost two decades after joining the bloc.
The two Balkan states signed an agreement on Friday with Austria, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said on X. The government in Vienna had been the lone holdout that had blocked their entry over concerns about migration. EU interior ministers will hold a a final vote on Dec. 12 to approve the accession, which may take effect next year.
Officials from the three countries signed a border protection package in Budapest, which includes pledges by Bulgaria and Romania to prevent migrants without proper documentation from traveling onwards in the EU, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said after the meeting with his counterparts. Hungary, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, helped broker the deal.
“This border protection package is a further necessary step toward the December vote,” Karner said. “Our efforts have already led to a significant decrease in illegal migration.”
Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the bloc in 2007, have been waiting ever since to fully access the so-called Schengen zone, which Europeans regularly cite as one of the biggest benefits of EU membership and a major boon to trade and investment.
Their entry will come as the passport-free area is challenged by increasingly nationalistic governments looking to stem migrant flows. Germany in September imposed temporary border controls as part of a crackdown against irregular migration, a move slammed by its EU peers.
Under the accord signed on Friday, an additional contingent of around 100 police officers will be deployed to protect the external border with Turkey. Provisional controls along Romania’s border with Hungary and Bulgaria will continue for at least six months after the two new entrants join Schengen.
EU states softened their position on expanding the travel zone last year by allowing the two Balkan countries admission in the areas of air and shipping travel from March of this year. But border controls remained in place for those transiting via road and rail — causing long queues at the borders and a financial hit.
Bulgaria and Romania expect Schengen admission to significantly boost their economies. The two governments previously estimated the cost of continued exclusion from Schengen’s land access at between 2% to 5% of gross domestic product annually.
Officials in Bucharest and Sofia won over their Austrian counterparts by pledging to bolster border protection and curb migration.
Under pressure from the far-right Freedom Party, Chancellor Karl Nehammer had put immigration at the top of the agenda during close parliamentary elections this fall. He relented with the election out of the way and as his People’s Party seeks to form a coalition with two centrist parties that would sideline the far-right. The Netherlands had already dropped its earlier objection.
“It was important to build trust based on actual results in the field not just on talks,” said Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu. “Romania’s entry will make Schengen safer.”
--With assistance from Slav Okov, Patrick Van Oosterom and Maxim Edwards.
(Updates with details on the accord from second paragraph, ministers’ comments from third)
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