Romania and Bulgaria reached an agreement with Austria on joining the Schengen zone. The agreement provides for open borders of Europe by air and sea from March 2024, but negotiations on land borders will continue next year.
Reuters writes about it.
Austria blocked the expansion of the visa-free Schengen zone to Romania and Bulgaria a year ago, saying that the level of illegal immigration in the countries is still too high and must be significantly reduced before joining the Schengen zone.
Romania and Bulgaria are located on the main routes of illegal arms, drug and human trafficking, but the European Commission said at the time that they met all the requirements of the Schengen agreement. Romania, on the other hand, stated that illegal migrants mainly enter the European Union from the Western Balkans, and not from its territory.
After they agreed to strengthen border security measures and secured the support of other EU countries, Austria partially relented, offering a phased entry.
- The Schengen area of open borders currently includes 23 of the blocʼs 27 member countries, as well as Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, which are not part of the European Union. Of the four non-Schengen EU members, three – Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania – are legally bound to join the area in the future, while Ireland retains the right not to participate, instead applying its own visa policy.
- Back in November 2022, the European Commission officially recommended that Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia join the Schengen zone.