Bulgaria and Romania partially join the Schengen area

2023-12-31 11:55:00

The 27 member states of the European Union have unanimously reached an agreement for the partial integration of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen area. Their integration will take place from March 31, they announced on the night of Saturday December 30 to Sunday December 31. Controls at the air and sea borders, internal to the EU, of these two countries will therefore be lifted.

The date of March 31 was not chosen at random: it corresponds to the transition from winter schedules to those planned for summer by the International Air Transport Association (Iata), according to this text.

The 27 must still agree to choose the date for lifting border controls, added the press release from the Council of the EU, the institution which represents the member states.

READ ALSO The Schengen area explained in 1 minuteThe European Commission, for its part, welcomed this decision, which comes after no less than twelve years of negotiations. “Today marks a historic moment for Bulgaria and Romania, and a day of great pride for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens,” welcomed the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a press release, specifying that the Commission considered that these two countries were ready to join the Schengen area since 2011.

Fight against increased immigration

Vienna had vetoed it last year to protest against too many illegal immigrants arriving on its territory, before agreeing to lift it in exchange for guarantees. Sofia and Bucharest agreed to fight more against illegal immigration in a joint declaration signed on Saturday with Vienna.

Bulgaria and Romania are also committed to fully applying European law, which provides that asylum requests be processed in the migrant’s country of arrival.

Romania and Bulgaria, members of the EU since 2007, were rejected by Austria at the end of 2022 from the Schengen area within which more than 400 million people can travel freely without internal border controls.

Created in 1985, the Schengen area includes 23 of the 27 EU member countries, as well as their associated neighbors Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.