The countries of the European Union agreed this Thursday on the full accession of Bulgaria y Rumania to the so-called Schengen area, the area of free movement of people, after thirteen years of waiting.
“It is a historic moment to finally welcome Bulgaria and Romania as full members of Schengen,” said Sandor Pinter, Minister of the Interior of Hungary, the country that holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU, in the note.
The two eastern European countries joined the EU in 2007, but only partially integrated into the Schengen area in March this year, opening up air and sea travel without border controls.
With this incorporation, this free movement zone will cover 29 countries: 25 of the 27 of the EU (Ireland and Cyprus are excluded), plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The full accession of Bulgaria and Romania was blocked by Austria, which, for immigration reasons, had demanded that border controls be maintained on land routes.
However, Vienna announced on Monday that it would not use its veto at Thursday’s meeting of EU ministers, paving the way for full membership of these two nations on January 1, 2025.
According to Sandor, “this step will benefit not only Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, but the EU as a whole.”
“This is a historic decision that marks the end of the process of access of the two countries to the EU free movement zone, a key objective for both Bulgaria and Romania since their accession to the European Union,” declared both States in a joint statement.
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Agreement with Austria
Bucharest and Sofia met the technical criteria set by Brussels since 2010, but they had been waiting for more than a decade due to the blockade of several Member States.
The last obstacle was Austria, which complained about the number of undocumented migrants arriving in its territory due to the weak protection of the external borders of the Schengen area.
He finally withdrew the veto following an agreement with both countries signed in Budapest, which provides for the joint deployment of border guards between Turkey and Bulgaria, and temporary controls on land routes for an initial period of six months.
In a statement, the European Council highlighted that from the moment they joined the EU the two countries had already implemented parts of the legal framework of the free movement area.
Among these measures, the note highlighted controls at its external borders, police cooperation and the use of a centralized information system.
Created in 1985, the Schengen area is the largest area in the world without border controls, through which more than 400 million people can move freely.
Signed and sealed — dear Bulgarian and Romanian friends, welcome to the Schengen zone! 🥳 pic.twitter.com/QJbCqLcLYx
— Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2024 (@HU24EU) December 12, 2024
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