Bulgaria and Romania join the EU’s Schengen area as full members
Romania and Bulgaria became full members of the European Union’s Schengen free-travel area on Wednesday, eliminating land border restrictions and joining a growing group of nations whose citizens are exempt from passport requirements.
Just after midnight, as the interior ministries of Bulgaria and Romania symbolically lifted a barrier on the Friendship Bridge over the Danube River, fireworks lit up the sky at a crossing near the Bulgarian border town of Ruse. Bottlenecks are frequent at the bridge, which serves as a significant transit hub for global trade.
“This is a historic moment,” Dimitar Glavchev, the prime minister of Bulgaria, declared. “From Greece in the south to Finland to the North and all the way to Portugal to the West – you can travel without borders.”
In March 2024, restrictions on air and sea travel from Bulgaria and Romania were removed; nevertheless, land inspections persisted until Austria vetoed the proposal last month, stating that more was required to curb irregular migration.
In 1985, border controls were first removed between France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Today, 25 of the 27 EU members as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland are included in the Schengen region.
Cyprus and Ireland do not belong to the Schengen area.
