The Romanian government announced on Wednesday that Romania and Bulgaria have reached an agreement with Austria to join the European Schengen Area for freedom of movement by sea and air in March 2024. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciulacu wrote on Facebook: “After 13 years, Romania will finally join Schengen! We have an agreement.” politics on this matter.
The Romanian Interior Ministry said in a statement that a “political agreement” had been reached between the three countries on expanding the zone “to the air and sea borders” of Romania and Bulgaria “as of March 2024.”
The issue of opening land borders has been postponed until discussions take place next year. Austria, which objected to the entry of the two countries a year ago, put forward the idea of what it called “Air Schengen” at the beginning of last December.
She said she was ready to relax the rules governing air traffic for Bulgaria and Romania if Brussels strengthens the European Union's external borders.
Romania and Bulgaria, members of the European Union since 2007, were excluded at the end of 2022 from the vast region in which more than 400 million people can travel freely without internal border controls.
Their requests were opposed by Austria, which has complained for years that it had to tolerate a disproportionate amount of illegal immigration as a result of weak protection of its external Schengen borders.
The Schengen Area was created in 1985 and includes 23 of the 27 EU member states as well as its associated neighbors Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
“Lifelong food lover. Avid beeraholic. Zombie fanatic. Passionate travel practitioner.”