By Ahmet Gencturk
ATHENS (AA) – Romania and Bulgaria, member of the EU since 2007, will enter the Schengen area of free movement by air and sea borders in March 2024, the Romanian government said on Wednesday.
“On December 23, 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reached a political agreement together with the corresponding ministries in Austria and Bulgaria regarding the extension of the Schengen Area with Romania and Bulgaria and the application of the Schengen acquis in Romania and Bulgaria at the air and sea borders starting from March 2024,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
It added that the negotiations and preparations to extend the Schengen area to the land borders of the two countries will continue in 2024.
The formal approval of all members states is needed as the last step to materialize the agreement, the statement noted.
The Schengen area currently includes 23 of 27 European countries as well as Iceland, Norway , Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, and allows people to travel freely among member countries without going through border controls.
Earlier, Austria, which argued that increasing flow of undocumented migrants to Europe proves Schengen area does not function properly, and the Netherlands, which insisted that Bulgaria should undertake comprehensive judicial and anti-corruption reforms, for long blocked Romania and Bulgaria’s entry to the Schengen area.