Bulgaria and Romania have struck a deal with Austria to let them partially join the Schengen area of free movement by air and by sea after the latter vetoed the two countries' entry.
The agreement would allow the two nations' entry into the European Schengen area of free movement in March 2024. On Wednesday, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu wrote on Facebook that after more than a decade, it is finally able to join Schengen, touting the new political agreement.
Bulgaria And Romania Partially Join Schengen
In a statement, the Romanian interior ministry said that a "political agreement" had been reached between the three nations on extending the zone "to the air and sea borders" of Romania and Bulgaria "from March 2024."
The question of the opening of land borders has been delayed until discussions that will be held next year. Austria, which had previously vetoed the two country's entry into the Schengen a year ago, put forward the idea of what it called "Air Schengen" at the beginning of this month, as per Le Monde.
The nation said that it was prepared to ease the rules governing air traffic for Bulgaria and Romania if Brussels strengthened the EU's external borders. Bulgaria and Romania have both been members of the US since 2007 and were rejected at the end of 2022 from the area of free movement.
Schengen is an area where more than 400 million people are allowed to travel freely without internal border controls. Austria vetoed the two countries' applications after complaining for years that it has to put up with a disproportionate amount of illegal immigration as a result of poorly protected external Schengen borders.
The area of free movement in question was initially created in 1985 and includes 23 of the 27 EU member states. It also includes their associated neighbors, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
The situation comes as Bulgaria and Romania are on major routes for illegal arms trade and drug and human trafficking. However, the European Commission argued that a thorough investigation showed that the two nations met all Schengen requirements, according to Reuters.
Austria Strikes Agreement With Bulgaria and Romania
Romania has previously argued that Austria's objections were unjustified, citing EU border agency Frontex data that showed illegal migrants were mainly entering the EU from the Western Balkans, not through its own territory.
For years, Austria's ruling conservative People's Party prioritized fighting illegal immigration as a key campaign issue. The far-right Freedom Party leads in opinion polls ahead of a parliamentary election scheduled for next year.
On Thursday, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov confirmed that they have reached an agreement after "complicated negotiations." He added that after 12 years without much progress on Schengen, they achieved indisputable success.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner previously requested for increased presence of Frontex officers along the Bulgarian-Turkish and Romanian-Serbian borders. He also urged for more EU funds to protect these borders from irregular migrant surges.
Denkov also confirmed on Thursday that as part of the upcoming negotiations on joining Schengen by land, the European Commission would provide support to protect the EU's external borders with Turkey and Serbia, said EuroNews.
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