Romania and Bulgaria have reached a political agreement with Austria to join the European Schengen area by air and sea from March 2024. The question of opening the land borders was postponed until next year’s discussions.
The European Commission had considered both countries to be ready for Schengen accession since 2011, but EU states had blocked an agreement over fears regarding the rule of law, as well as an increase in migration. Austria was the last EU member state to drop its veto on the entry of these two countries into Schengen, which it did at the beginning of December 2023.
Austrian officials said they were ready to agree with the limited travel rules for Bulgaria and Romania if Brussels strengthened the EU’s external borders. Austrian interior minister Gerhard Karner had requested an increased presence of Frontex officers along the Bulgarian-Turkish and Romanian-Serbian borders and more EU funds to protect these borders from irregular migrant surges.
Romania and Bulgaria have been members of the EU since 2007. Schengen, a zone in which more than 400 million people can travel freely without internal border controls, was created in 1985 and includes 23 of the 27 EU member states and their associated neighbors Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The current Spanish Council Presidency called to deliberate Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession by the end of 2023. Their full entry to the zone would leave Ireland and Cyprus as the only EU countries outside of Schengen.
Analyses show that the Schengen area significantly decreases trade barriers between partners and facilitates cross-country trade integration. According to the European Parliament’s research service, when two countries are members of the Schengen area, bilateral net trade increases by 0.09 percent every year. There is also a security significance concerning the ease of support for war-torn Ukraine.
