Bulgaria and Romania will partially join the Schengen free trade area

The 27 member states of the European Union (EU) unanimously agreed overnight to lift controls at air and sea borders, internal borders of the EU, Romania and Bulgaria from 31 March. The date was chosen because it corresponds to the transition from winter to summer schedules planned by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

However, this record is only partial. The 27 countries will have to make a new decision on the choice of date for lifting controls at land borders, the internal borders of the EU, a press release from the Council of the EU, which represents member states, confirmed.

However, the European Commission welcomed this progress achieved after no less than 12 years of negotiations. “Today marks a historic moment for Bulgaria and Romania and a day of great pride for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens,” explained Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.

If the Commission recalled that since 2011 it had believed that the two countries were ready to join the Schengen area, the matter was blocked in particular by Austria last year, which considered that this opening could cause a massive influx of illegal immigrants into its Schengen area . territory.

That’s why Sofia and Bucharest agreed to step up their fight against illegal immigration in a joint declaration signed with Vienna on Saturday. Bulgaria and Romania are also committed to the full application of European legislation, which stipulates that asylum requests will be processed in the migrant’s country of arrival.

The Schengen area allows more than 400 million people to travel freely without internal border controls. Created in 1985, it includes 23 of the 27 EU member states, as well as their associated neighbors Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.