Bulgaria and Romania have been given the green light to fully join the border-free Schengen area, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Friday (22 November).

“Bulgaria and Romania belong fully to Schengen. The lifting of land border checks is the last hurdle. I welcome the positive results of today’s informal discussions in Budapest,” von der Leyen posted on X.

On 22 November in Budapest, the interior ministers of Bulgaria, Romania and Austria signed a declaration on the full accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area.

The Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU posted on X: “BREAKING! Interior ministers of Austria, Bulgaria and Romania signed a joint agreement in Budapest for Bulgaria and Romania to join the Schengen Area”.

EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, stated:

“This is a great moment. I am in Budapest where we have finalised a meeting with the interior ministers of Hungary, Austria, Romania and Bulgaria, where they agreed to have a decision to lift also the control on the land borders at the next JHA Council in December, and hopefully from the first of January. This is a great day to achieve the full freedom for the citizens of Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen area and I’m very happy today.”

The final decision is due on the occasion of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 11 December, when Romania and Bulgaria are officially invited to join Schengen with land borders.

“Romania and Bulgaria can fully join the European Union’s Schengen area with open borders from January 2025, Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said today,” Reuters quoted him saying.

EU and NATO members, Romania and Bulgaria entered the 29-country Schengen area by air and sea in March 2024 after reaching a partial agreement with Austria. Vienna initially opposed their joining, saying illegal immigration was still too high and that the two countries needed to do more to prevent it.

Negotiations for land entry continued throughout 2024.

For Romania and Bulgaria, land borders are a major bottleneck. According to the Romanian Union of Truck Hauliers, drivers usually wait eight to 16 hours at the border with Hungary, and from 20 to 30 hours at the Bulgarian border, with peaks of three days. Similarly, in Bulgaria, hauliers queue at the border with Greece and Romania. Evaluations have been made in terms of impact on the environment, and they are not reassuring, to say the least.

Romania believes the country loses €10 billion a year because it is not a full member of Schengen. For the same reason Bulgaria, three times smaller in terms of population, believes its economy lost €1 billion last year.

The news from Budapest is expected to play in the hands of Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who is a candidate in Sunday’s presidential elections. His main opponent, George Simion, is a far-right populist who dreams of restoring Romania’s pre-World War Two borders.

Full Schengen membership also means that for the first time in history, Greece will also be linked by land to the rest of the Schengen area.

Source: Euractiv.com