Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said Romania and Bulgaria are ready to join the Schengen zone.
Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, ahead of a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, Pintér expressed his hope that a decision would be taken on approving the two member states' Schengen membership.
The minister pointed out that Hungary supported the Schengen accession of Bulgaria and Romania as early as 2011 when it first held the EU presidency.
"I believe that if a country is technically ready, has made huge efforts and initiated regulatory changes, then they deserve to become part of the Schengen area," Pinter said.
Pintér said the ministers would also discuss the EU's home affairs strategic guidelines, adding that the current guidelines were adopted ten years ago so they had to be renewed.
Another point on the agenda of the meeting is online child abuse. On this, Pintér said he expected to see a serious clash as there were arguments both for individual and personal rights and for the protection of children.