Romania, Bulgaria in partial Schengen deal with Austria, says Bucharest

Romania and Bulgaria have reached an agreement with Austria to join the European Schengen area of free movement by sea and air in March 2024, the Romanian government said Wednesday (27 December).

“After 13 years, Romania is finally going to join Schengen! We have a political agreement on this,” Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu wrote on Facebook.

The Romanian interior ministry said in a statement that a “political agreement” had been reached between the three countries on extending the zone “to the air and sea borders” of Romania and Bulgaria “from March 2024”.

The question of the opening of land borders has been postponed until discussions to be held next year.

Austria, which vetoed the entry of the two countries a year ago, put forward the idea of what it called “Air Schengen” at the beginning of December.

It said it was prepared to relax the rules governing air traffic for Bulgaria and Romania if Brussels strengthened the EU’s external borders.

Romania and Bulgaria, both members of the EU since 2007, have been ready to join Schengen since 2011, according to the Commission. However their accession to the border-free zone within which more than 400 million people can travel freely has met with resistance from some of the member states.

In 2022, their applications were vetoed by Austria, which has been complaining for years that it has to put up with a disproportionate amount of illegal immigration as a result of poorly protected external Schengen borders.

The Netherlands also vetoed Bulgaria accession, but the veto was lifted following a vote in the Dutch parliament on 21 December.

The news that Austria has agreed Bulgaria to join Schengen by sea and air has not been confirmed by the Bulgarian authorities.

Unlike Bucharest, Sofia has been skeptical as to a partial Schengen accession and has insisted that Bulgaria and Romania should also join the EU border-free area also with its external frontiers.

The Schengen area was created in 1985 and includes 23 of the 27 EU member states as well as their associated neighbours Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

*first published in: Euractiv.com