After 13 years in the antechamber of the Schengen Area, Romania and Bulgaria will from tomorrow Wednesday become full parts of this free movement zone, both on land and in the air, which constitutes a powerful symbolism for the two countries of Eastern Europe.

The two countries were already “with one foot” in Schengen, after checks at airports and ports were abolished in March 2024. In mid-December they finally received the “green light” from their European partners obtaining the same privileges for their land borders.

Celebrations are planned at various border crossings just before the start of the new year at midnight tonight.

This is the end of a long wait for the two former communist countries, which are among the poorest in the EU. They met the technical criteria since 2011 but “each time, member countries raised objections,” recalled analyst Valentin Naumescu. Over the years, this problem became “a source of frustration, which anti-European parties used to denounce the unfair treatment of Romania,” he explained, citing as an example the recent presidential election (which has since been annulled) in which he unexpectedly emerged as the winner. a far-right candidate.

By joining the Schengen zone, “the feeling that we are second-class citizens disappears”, the analyst estimated.

In both countries, political leaders spoke of a “historic decision”, underlining that this had been a key objective since Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007.

The Schengen area today includes 25 of the 27 EU member states, as well as their associated neighbours, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. More than 400 million people can move freely, without being subject to checks.

The full accession of Romania (19 million inhabitants) and Bulgaria (6.5 million) became possible after Austria lifted its veto. Vienna had initially accepted, last spring, the partial integration of the two countries and then drew up a “road map” for their full integration. Vienna mainly feared that the number of asylum seekers would increase if the Schengen area was expanded, but now considers that the measures implemented in recent months have allowed migration flows to be significantly reduced.

Under an agreement presented in November in Budapest, temporary controls will be in place for a period of six months to minimize the possibility of migration routes changing. Controls will also be strengthened at the Bulgaria-Turkey border, which will form the external borders of the Schengen area.

The two countries expect to benefit financially from joining the Schengen area and that their GDP will increase by at least 1%.

Road transporters also do not hide their satisfaction as drivers were often forced to wait at the border for up to 20 hours. “It was just a waste of time for the drivers who couldn’t even rest during that time because they had to move their vehicle every 10 minutes,” commented Beniamin Lucescu, the president of the Romanian Transport Federation.

In Bulgaria, the poor state of the infrastructure is estimated to limit the positive consequences of full integration into the Schengen area: the roads are narrow, sometimes poorly maintained, the railway lines non-existent or obsolete, the bridges over the Danube – on the border with Romania – few.

As for tourism, the factors of the sector are based on the increase in the number of travelers to neighboring Greece.

“It’s great news,” said Ivailo Kirkov, 46, a sales manager. “We’ve been looking forward to full integration.”

For Giorgi Grkancharov, tour guide and Greek teacher, there is no doubt that Romanians and Bulgarians will prefer Greece as a tourist destination in the future. Without queues, “you go (by road) from Sofia to Thessaloniki in four hours, as long as it takes to get to the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea,” he explained.