SOFIA: EU states on Thursday cleared Bulgaria and Romania to become full members of the borderless Schengen zone from the start of next year following a more than 13-year wait for the two eastern European nations.

The two countries, both members of the European Union since 2007, were partially integrated into the free movement zone in March, opening up travel by air and sea without border checks. But Austria — until this week — held up their full entry over migration concerns, which meant that controls still applied at their land routes.

Vienna announced Monday that it would not use its veto at Thursday’s meeting of EU ministers, paving the way for the two to become full members from January 1, 2025. “It is a historic moment to finally welcome Bulgaria and Romania,” said Interior Minister Sandor Pinter of Hungary, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency. Bucharest and Sofia fulfilled all technical criteria set out by Brussels in 2010, but spent more than a decade waiting to join the Schengen zone as various member states blocked their entry.

Romania and Bulgaria “strongly” welcomed their full entry. “This is a historic decision, marking the end of the process of accession of the two countries to the EU free movement area, a key objective of both Bulgaria and Romania since their accession to the European Union,” the two countries said in a statement.

Since 2022, their applications have been held up by Austria, which had for years complained about hosting a disproportionate number of undocumented migrants as a result of poorly protected external Schengen borders.

Austria dropped its objections after the three countries signed a “border protection package” agreement in Budapest. The agreement, signed last month, foresees the joint deployment of border guards to the Bulgarian-Turkish border and temporary border controls on land routes for an initial period of six months. 

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said Thursday’s decision was a “recognition of our years-long efforts and progress achieved”. “Romania assures that we will continue to act fully responsible for protecting and strengthening the EU’s external borders,” he said, adding that the country’s Schengen accession would “strengthen EU security and unity”. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said the accession meant “a major benefit for our economy and faster journeys home for the millions of Romanians living and travelling in the EU”.

Border crossing waits

Created in 1985, the Schengen zone comprises 29 members -- 25 of the 27 European Union member states as well as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. It is the world’s biggest area without internal border controls, where more than 400 million people can travel freely inside the zone.

Croatia, which joined the EU after Romania and Bulgaria, beat the two ex-Communist countries amid the bloc’s poorest to the punch in January 2023 by becoming Schengen’s 27th member. Admission to Schengen symbolises a “question of dignity, of belonging to the European Union”, according to foreign policy analyst Stefan Popescu.

Since the end of March, Romanians and Bulgarians no longer had to go through checkpoints at airports and seaports. But truckers and cross-border workers, tired of the long queues at land border crossings, were furious.

“Currently they wait between 12 and 20 hours at the various border crossings,” Dimitar Dimitrov, president of the Chamber of Bulgarian Transporters, told AFP, welcoming Thursday’s long-awaited announcement. It will also make travel “much easier, both for outgoing and incoming tourists,” according to Emil Abazov, management board member of the Association of Bulgarian Tour Operators and Travel Agents (ABTTA). – AFP