Romania and Bulgaria have reached an agreement with Austria to join Europe's Schengen area for the free movement of people by sea and air in March 2024, the Romanian government said on Wednesday. “After 13 years, Romania will finally join Schengen! We have a political agreement on this,” Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu wrote on Facebook.
Romania's Interior Ministry said in a statement that a “political agreement” had been reached between the three countries on extending the zone “up to the air and sea borders” of Romania and Bulgaria “from March 2024.”
The issue of opening land borders has been postponed until next year's talks. Austria, which vetoed the two countries' accession a year ago, put forward the idea of a so-called “Air Schengen” in early December.
It agreed to relax air traffic rules for Bulgaria and Romania if Brussels strengthened the EU's external borders.
Romania and Bulgaria, both EU members since 2007, were excluded from the vast zone at the end of 2022, where more than 400 million people can travel freely without controls at internal borders.
Their applications were rejected by Austria, which has complained for years that it has had to accept a disproportionately high level of illegal immigration due to the poorly protected Schengen external borders.
The Schengen area was created in 1985 and includes 23 of the 27 EU member states as well as its neighbors Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.