Identification checks at Bulgaria and Romania’s land borders have ceased, opening free travel to the rest of the European Union.
Romania and Bulgaria have become full members of the Schengen zone, expanding the borderless area to 29 members and ending a 13-year wait for the two Eastern European countries.
The expansion, made possible when Austria and other members dropped their objections to the former communist countries joining, officially took place at midnight (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday, marked by ceremonies at various border posts.
Identification checks at the land borders between Bulgaria and Romania and their neighbouring European Union member countries officially ceased at midnight, providing travellers free access to the rest of the 27-member bloc.
The two Balkan countries partially joined the Schengen Area in March, but open travel was restricted to those arriving only by air or sea.
Late on Tuesday, the interior ministers of Bulgaria and Romania met at the Ruse-Giurgiu border crossing between the two countries to mark the opening of the frontier. Another short ceremony was held at a border crossing between Hungary and Romania with a meeting between Hungary’s national chief of police and the chief inspector of Romania’s border police.
Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, but were not integrated into the borderless zone until March, when border checks were lifted from maritime and air travel. Land border checks remained in place due to opposition, chiefly from Austria, over concerns that the two countries were not doing enough to prevent migrants from entering without authorisation.
The expansion of the Schengen Area came after months of efforts to integrate Bulgaria and Romania into the zone by Hungary’s government as it held the six-month rotating presidency of the EU.
Some one million ethnic Hungarians live in the Transylvania region of Romania, a legacy of the partition of Hungary following World War I. Relations have been historically rocky between the two countries, but opening the border will ease travel and strengthen links between the regions.
Schengen, one of the main achievements of the European project, was established in 1985 as an intergovernmental project between five EU countries – France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It has gradually expanded to become the largest free travel area in the world.
However, several Schengen member countries, including the Netherlands, Austria and Germany, this year reinstated some land border checks over concerns ranging from migration to security. Some EU officials warned the reimposed checks could undermine the scheme’s goals.
Before Bulgaria and Romania’s partial admission, Schengen was comprised of 23 of the 27 EU member countries, along with Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. About 3.5 million people cross an internal border daily, and more than 420 million people live within the Schengen Area.
