Identification checks at the land borders of Bulgaria and Romania have been lifted, opening up free travel to the rest of the European Union.
Romania and Bulgaria have become full members of the Schengen area, expanding the border-free zone 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 ex-communist countries’ membership, became official 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 neighboring European Union member states were officially lifted at midnight, giving travelers 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 limited to those arriving only by air or sea.
Late 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 border. Another short ceremony was held at a border point between Hungary and Romania with a meeting between the head of the national police of Hungary and the chief inspector of the border police of Romania.
Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, but did not integrate into the border-free zone until March, when border controls were lifted on sea and air travel. Land border controls remained in place amid opposition, mainly from Austria, over concerns that the two countries were not doing enough to prevent unauthorized migrants from entering.
The expansion of the Schengen zone came after several months of efforts to integrate Bulgaria and Romania into the zone by the Hungarian government, while it held the rotating six-month presidency of the EU.
About one million ethnic Hungarians live in Romania’s Transylvania region, a legacy of the partition of Hungary after World War I. Relations have historically been strained between the two countries, but the opening of the border will ease travel and strengthen ties between the regions.
Schengen, one of the main achievements of the European project, was created in 1985 as an intergovernmental project between the five EU countries – France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It has gradually expanded to become the largest free travel zone in the world.
However, several Schengen member states, including the Netherlands, Austria and Germany, this year reinstated some land border controls over concerns ranging from migration to security. Some EU officials warned that reintroduced controls could undermine the scheme’s aims.
Before the partial admission of Bulgaria and Romania, Schengen consisted of 23 of the 27 EU member states, along with Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. About 3.5 million people cross an internal border every day, and more than 420 million people live within the Schengen area.
