Barcelona, Bulgaria and Romania will gradually enter the Schengen area from March, according to the unanimous agreement of the countries of the European Union this Saturday. This means that its citizens will be able to travel freely to other European countries, without the need for a passport or visa. The measure, however, will be applied partially.
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At the moment, only travelers traveling by air and sea will be able to move to other European countries without any bureaucratic obstacles. However, restrictions will remain in place for those wishing to travel by land. This has been forced by Austria, which last year already vetoed the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area for fear of the arrival of an immigrant wave of citizens from these two countries. On the other hand, the European Commission and the European Parliament had been defending for years that Bulgaria and Romania, members of the European Union since 2007, were ready to enter the Schengen area.
Austria, however, has pledged to continue negotiating the full incorporation of the two countries, according to Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, who has also reported that the European Commission will help seal his country’s borders with Turkey and Serbia to prevent entry of immigrants in an irregular situation.
The Schengen area was established in 1985. It includes 4.3 million square kilometers and 423 million citizens of 27 European countries, 23 European Union partners and four non-EU countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein). The last country to join was Croatia, in January this year, and now, with the partial admission of Bulgaria and Romania, the number of members will rise to 29. Within the EU, only Ireland and Cyprus are still not part of this group.
“Congratulations to the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria for the extension of Schengen for sea and air transport passengers”, celebrated the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, through social networks. Michel emphasized that this is a “long-awaited step by Romanian and Bulgarian citizens to enjoy a simpler freedom of movement”.
Bucharest has thanked the European Commission and the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, as well as the Ministries of the Interior of Austria and Bulgaria, for the “constructive conversations” that have made the agreement possible.
“After 13 years, Romania will finally join Schengen! We have a political agreement!” wrote the Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, on his Facebook account. “From March, Romanians will benefit from the advantages of the Schengen area by air and by sea. Immediately, the port of Constança [a la costa romanesa del mar Negre] will increase its importance exponentially. I am also convinced that in 2024 we will close the negotiations for the land border”, he added.
The role of Spain
Spain is one of the countries that for a long time gave unreserved support to the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area because it considered that they had fulfilled “all the requirements to be full members” of this area without borders. That’s why , this Saturday he described it as a “historic” agreement and highlighted that it was one of the priorities of the Ministry of the Interior for the semester of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, which ends this Sunday.
“The decision was made possible after intense negotiations in recent weeks between the affected member states (Austria, Bulgaria and Romania), with the support of the European Commission and the mediation of the Spanish presidency of the Council. The negotiating determination of the presidency has managed to overcome persistent reluctance and obtain a fair and historic agreement”, sources from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior have reported.
2023-12-30 21:30:39
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