Romania and Bulgaria will gain full access to the European Union’s passport-free Schengen area next year, ending a protracted 17-year wait, Bloomberg reports.
The decision, approved by EU interior ministers on Thursday, will abolish border controls at land crossings, significantly boosting the two countries’ economies.
Austria, the lone holdout, dropped its opposition after an agreement to strengthen the EU’s external borders. Austria had expressed concerns about migration, but a deal reached last month addressed those concerns.
Romania and Bulgaria have been seeking full Schengen membership since joining the EU in 2007. The passport-free zone is widely regarded as one of the most tangible benefits of EU membership, facilitating trade and investment.
Last year, Schengen member states, including Austria, agreed to allow free travel by air and sea for Romania and Bulgaria, effective March 2024.
The latest agreement involved significant concessions. It includes deploying additional police to the EU’s external border with Turkey and implementing targeted checks at Romania’s borders with Hungary and Bulgaria for six months.
The move is expected to provide a major economic boost to Romania and Bulgaria. Both countries have estimated that their exclusion from Schengen’s land access has cost them 2-5% of their gross domestic product annually.
“We have been preparing for this moment for months,” Romania’s Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu stated before Thursday’s meeting. “Our primary goal is to eliminate the current long lines at our borders and ensure that our citizens and transporters enjoy the full benefits of EU membership.”
The expansion of Schengen comes amidst challenges to the passport-free zone. Nationalistic governments across Europe have sought to restrict migration, with Germany recently imposing temporary border controls.
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