Austria, which has led opposition within the European Union to Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen open-travel area, said on December 11 that it was willing to relent but only on plane travel and in exchange for tighter security at the EU's external border. At a meeting of the bloc's interior ministers a year ago, at which the two eastern European countries had hoped to get the green light to join the world's largest free-travel area, Austria said illegal immigration was still too high and Romania and Bulgaria needed to do more to prevent it before joining.
Austria Makes Conditional Schengen Offer To Bulgaria And Romania
A Romanian border guard stands on duty at a railway border-crossing point at the EU's external border with Moldova. (file photo)