Schengen area: Romania and Bulgaria join - controls at airports and seaports are no longer necessary

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Passengers at an airport in Romania: in the Schengen area since Easter Sunday

Photo: Andreea Alexandru/dpa

Romania and Bulgaria joined the Schengen area on Easter Sunday. This means that personal checks at internal air and sea borders, i.e. at airports and seaports, will initially be eliminated. The EU countries had already agreed on the step at the end of December. A decision on lifting controls at land borders will be made at a later date.

The Schengen area is intended to ensure unrestricted movement of people in Europe. It now includes 25 of the 27 EU member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Romania and Bulgaria had been waiting to join Schengen since 2011. But the EU heads of state and government did not agree on this for a long time for various reasons. Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007. Until September last year, the judiciary and the rule of law there were under special monitoring by the EU Commission due to rampant corruption and organized crime.

Austria expressed concerns about joining

Austria in particular had until recently expressed concerns about the two countries joining the Schengen area and accused Bulgaria of inadequate protection of its external border. The 259 kilometer long mainland border with Turkey has been completely protected by a wire fence with spikes and monitored with thermal imaging cameras since 2017. Nevertheless, migrants often cross irregularly with the help of smugglers.

The EU border protection agency Frontex is already supporting Bulgaria and Romania in protecting the EU's external borders and will continue to do so. In February, Frontex also announced that it would increase staff at the borders with Turkey and Serbia.

The caretaker government in Bulgaria praised the restricted accession to Schengen. It was the greatest success after the country's admission to the EU, said Prime Minister Nikolaj Denkow, who resigned at the beginning of March, at a ceremony at Sofia International Airport after the landing of a plane from Berlin. Acting Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabriel spoke of a “historic moment”.

For a decision to lift controls at the land borders, a “politically appropriate moment” is now being sought after the European elections and probably after the parliamentary elections in Austria, said Denkow. The Bulgarian business community and the opposition are pushing for controls at the land borders to be abolished soon.

aka/dpa