KEY TAKEAWAYS

• From March 2024, Romania and Bulgaria will partially enter the Schengen Zone by air and sea.
• The new decision comes after the agreement reached between Bucharest and Sofia with Vienna
• Talks regarding the accession of Bucharest and Sofia by land will continue next year.

The decision comes following the agreement between Bucharest and Sofia with Vienna on the latter’s recent proposal “Air Schengen”, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Talks regarding the accession of these two Balkan countries by land will continue next year.

The agreement has been welcomed by both countries’ authorities, with Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, saying that he is convinced that in 2024 negotiations for land borders will also be finished.

From March, Romanians will benefit from Schengen advantages on air and sea routes. I am convinced that in 2024 we will finish negotiations for land borders as well.

Bulgarian Prime Minister, Nikolay Denkov, noted that the decision came following long and complicated negotiations.

After long, complicated negotiations, we reached an agreement in principle with Austria on the admission of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen Area, initially for air and sea borders.

Despite meeting all the requirements, Romania and Bulgaria have been waiting to become part of the EU’s passport-free travel zone for more than ten years.

The accession of these two countries was blocked in December last year by Austria and in the case of Bulgaria also by the Netherlands over irregular migration concerns.

While earlier this month the Netherlands’s Ministry of Justice confirmed that its country would support the accession of Bulgaria to Schengen, clearing the path for its membership, Vienna didn’t share the same opinion.

During the meeting of the EU Interior Minister held on December 5 this year, the Interior Minister of Austria, Gerhard Karner, said that the Schengen Zone should become “better, not bigger”. However, no vote was included on the agenda of the meeting.

Minister Karner unfolded the “Air Schengen” proposal consisting of four conditions for the partial accession of these two countries to the Schengen Zone.

The proposal was supported by Romania but was considered “unacceptable” by Bulgarian Prime Minister Denkov. He said that Sofia had met all the needed requirements for the process to be finished.

Soon after “Air Schengen” was introduced, the European Commission expressed its support, stressing that talks for the implementation of this proposal were underway.

Things are moving in a positive direction, and that is definitely what is important at this stage.

In addition, a Commission spokesperson emphasized that the Commission was analyzing Austria’s requests related to the issue.