EU countries Bulgaria and Romania have reached an agreement with Austria on their partial access to the Schengen area of free movement.
About finding an agreement announced on Wednesday in his Facebook update, the Prime Minister of Romania Marcel Ciolacuand was reported by, among others, the news agency AFP and the Romanian news channel Digital 24.
Bulgaria and Romania negotiated the matter precisely with Austria, because Austria prevented vetoing their Schengen membership at the end of last year.
Bulgarian and Romania's Schengen membership will enter into force in March 2024, but it will initially only cover air and sea transport, the latter of which is of negligible importance.
The border formalities will therefore remain in force at the EU land borders, which are between Romania and Hungary and Bulgaria and Greece. The opening of these borders is to be negotiated during the beginning of the year.
The so-called air Schengen was Austria's idea. In return, it wants the EU to strengthen its external borders to curb illegal immigration.
Bulgaria and Romania have been members of the EU since 2007 and members of the military alliance NATO since 2004.
#Schengen #Bulgaria #Romania #join #Europe #open #borders #initially #air
