Europe: Romania and Bulgaria, one foot in the Schengen area

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP 4:08 p.m., March 31, 2024

Romania and Bulgaria became at midnight local time (10 p.m. GMT) the 28th and 29th members of the vast European Schengen free movement area after 13 years of waiting, with the notable exception of land borders. Blame it on the veto of Austria, the only refractory country in the EU for fear of an influx of asylum seekers from these two countries.

After 13 years of waiting, here they are finally in the Schengen area. Romania and Bulgaria officially entered this vast free movement zone at midnight local time (10 p.m. GMT), with the notable exception of land borders. At Sofia airport in Bulgaria, the first departing passengers were delighted on Sunday morning. “I travel often and this makes things easier,” Kristina Markova, 35, explained enthusiastically. “Baggage control included, we were able to reach the terminal in less than three minutes, it’s really progress.”

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Accession is partial, therefore limited to airports and seaports, but the step has a strong symbolic value as the two countries have been members of the European Union (EU) since 2007. "It is a great success for them,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

29 members now

Croatia, which entered the EU after Romania (19 million inhabitants) and Bulgaria (6.5 million), beat them to the punch in January 2023. With this double entry, this zone created in 1985 in which more than 400 million people can travel without permanent internal border controls, will now include 29 members.

Twenty-five of the 27 EU states are part of it, as well as their associated neighbors Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland. Finally joining was “a question of dignity”, notes Stefan Popescu, an international relations expert based in Bucharest. “Every Romanian, when he took a separate line from other European nationals, felt treated differently,” he told AFP.

Austria's veto

At the Romanian capital's airport, where the majority of flights serve the Schengen area, teams have been busy all week preparing for this little revolution. With the promise of increased numbers to carry out unannounced checks, particularly on minors "in order to prevent them from falling prey to human trafficking networks", according to the government.

The agents deployed will also be there to “guide passengers and identify those who would take advantage of this to leave Romania illegally”. Big downside: on the roads, controls will be maintained for the time being. Blame the veto of Austria, the only refractory country in the EU for fear of an influx of asylum seekers.

Excluded from the process, road carriers are not taking off. The wait lasts "from 8 to 16 hours" at the border with Hungary, "from 20 to 30 hours with Bulgaria, with peaks of three days" in both cases, lamented one of the main Romanian unions in the sector, deploring colossal “financial losses”. “We have waited 13 years, we are exhausted,” thundered Secretary General Radu Dinescu.

In Schengen at 3%

Same rant from cross-border workers passing by car and Bulgarian bosses. “3% of Bulgarian goods are transported by air and sea, the remaining 97% circulating by land,” said Vassil Velev, president of the BICA (Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association) organization, interviewed by AFP. “We are therefore at 3% in Schengen and do not know when we will be authorized to join completely,” he lamented.

No date has been given for becoming full members. Because we have to show our credentials to hope to overcome Vienna's reluctance. The entrepreneur fears he will pay the price for the legislative elections scheduled for the end of September in Austria, while conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer must face the rise of the far right in the polls.

“Full membership will depend on foreign political developments,” warned Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu on Sunday, referring to the Austrian vote. In any case, both Sofia and Bucharest have warned: there will be no going back. “The process is irreversible, I am convinced,” said Catalin Predoiu, who calls for it to be completed in 2024.