Full Schengen membership for Romania
Romania’s and Bulgaria’s full Schengen membership as of January 1, 2025 entails major benefits for the two countries.
Mihai Pelin, 13.12.2024, 14:00
After years of waiting, Romania and Bulgaria are becoming full members of the Schengen area. On Thursday, the Justice and Home Affairs Council approved the lifting of the two countries’ land border controls, as of January 1, 2025.
“The benefits of our membership of the free movement area are multiple and have a direct impact on citizens, on the economy and on the image of our country. The lifting of land border controls means faster and simpler movement for those who travel, the time spent at the borders will be considerably reduced, and logistics costs for companies will decrease, which will rapidly improve the competitiveness of Romanian products and services on the European market,” President Klaus Iohannis said.
“It is a historic decision, a victory for justice and national dignity and a clear signal that we will never accept to be second-rate European citizens,” Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in his turn. He explained that, for Romanians, this decision brings concrete and immediate benefits, especially for those in the diaspora, who travel frequently to Romania.
The full accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area brings about a number of undeniable benefits for the two countries. First of all, greater freedom of movement towards Western Europe. Similarly, towards the south, Romanians will no longer be stopped either at the border with Bulgaria or at the next one, with Greece. The greatest benefits, however, will be for carriers who will no longer have to wait for hours at the borders, most often in difficult conditions.
There will be, however, a six-month period of partial controls at the borders with Hungary and Bulgaria. Such controls have been temporarily initiated on various internal Schengen borders, due to the increase in illegal migration into the Union. The justice minister Cătălin Predoiu provided more details:
Cătălin Predoiu: “Whenever border police notice something wrong with a vehicle carrying individuals or when they receive information that there is a risk in terms of compliance with the law, they step in and carry out checks.”
Bulgaria and Romania, members of the EU since 2007, partially joined the Schengen area in March, with passport controls abolished for those crossing the air and sea borders.
Romania went through several Schengen assessment reports before 2011, the first deadline for joining the area. Subsequently, over the years, countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands or Austria opposed Romania’s accession, citing issues related to corruption, organised crime, judicial reforms or migration.
With a population of almost 420 million people, Schengen is the largest free movement area in the world, covering over 4 million square kilometers and now including 29 countries. (AMP)
