At 31 March, Bulgaria and Romania will finally join the Schengen area after years of negotiations. For travellers, this decision will meanabolition of border controls that still remain for the time being.
However, there are a number of reasons for this, the inclusion of the two Balkan states in the zone Schengen is not total. Austria and the Netherlands in particular were strongly opposed to the integration of the two countries. Austria feared a large influx of migrants on its land borders via Hungary from Romania. The Netherlands had the same reservations about Bulgaria.
The European Union has finally reached a compromise on 30 December 2023. According to an official statement from the Council of the European Union, from 31 March 2024there will be more checks on people only at the EU's internal air and sea borders between Bulgaria and Romania and the other countries in the Schengen area. This date corresponds to the change in the winter/summer calendar of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The Council of the EU considers that border controls in the Schengen area remain well under control at airports and ports.
Following this first stage, another decision should be taken by the Council to set a date for the ultimate total liberalisation of movements. This includes in particular the lifting of internal land border controls.
With Bulgaria and Romania joining the Schengen area, the latter will cover 29 countries.. In addition to the 25 EU countries, the zone also includes Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway.
