The caveat:

The Budapest deal foresees the introduction of checks at the land borders 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”.

The wording of “at least” implies they could be extended further down the line.

The concession was meant to assuage Vienna’s persistent concerns about irregular migration, which the country repeatedly invoked to block the twin bid.

This means that the great achievement of Thursday’s approval – the permanent abolition of passport checks at land borders – will not be completely realised and citizens who travel across countries will still risk facing some queues and delays.