Bulgaria and Romania have partially joined Europe’s Schengen area of free movement after a 13-year wait.
The agreement was reached late last year after Austria opposed full membership, including land crossings, stating Romania and Bulgaria needed to do more to prevent irregular migration.
The Schengen zone now comprises 29 members, including 25 of the 27 EU member states, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. The lifting of controls at the two countries’ air and sea borders has significant practical and symbolic value.
However, truck drivers, who face long queues at borders with their European neighbours, feel left out. Romania’s main road transport union, the UNTRR, has called for urgent measures to get full Schengen integration, deploring the huge financial costs caused by long waits.
Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov said the country should become a full member of the Schengen zone by the end of this year, meaning border checkpoints will be removed for people and goods travelling by road and rail.
