Hungary’s Interior Minister Sándor Pintér stated that abolishing checks at Bulgaria and Romania’s land borders will be on the agenda of the meeting of European interior ministers in December.

• Interior Minister refuses to predict deadline for Bulgaria's full entry into Schengen
  
• Hungarian EU Presidency advocates full Schengen membership for Bulgaria and Romania
  
• Ylva Johansson: Bulgaria and Romania have gone above and beyond on their path to Schengen
  

At the regular meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 10 October in Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Romania presented the headway they have made, Minister Pintér said at a press conference after the meeting, and added that Austria had been given answers to all of the questions it has raised. Sándor Pintér is optimistic that the final step will be taken by the end of the year.

Bulgaria’s Caretaker Minister of Interior Atanas Ilkov, who is taking part in the Council, announced that he had held talks with his Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner on Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen by land but that there has been no categorical position on the part of Austria as yet.