Spanish Presidency hammers out Schengen enlargement with Bulgaria and Romania

The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU succeeded late on Saturday 30 December 2023, one day before it passes the baton to Belgium, to move on with the Schengen enlargement with Bulgaria and Romania, after 12 years of negotiations.

“Schengen grows! EU Council has decided to enlarge the Schengen area to Bulgaria and Romania. Air and maritime internal borders will be lifted in March 2024, while a decision on the lifting of land controls will be taken later”, the Spanish Presidency posted on X, adding that this was the last decision under its six-month stint.

The decision was taken by unanimity, following a written procedure.

“I am very pleased that in 2024 air and maritime internal controls between Bulgaria and Romania and the other Schengen countries will become a thing of the past, after 12 years of negotiations. We are thus continuing to build an ever wider and stronger area of free movement”, stated Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez, Spanish Minister for the Interior.

From 31 March 2024, there will no longer be checks on persons at EU internal air and maritime borders between Bulgaria and Romania and the other countries in the Schengen area. This date corresponds with the change of the winter/summer schedule set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Following this first step, a further decision should be taken by the Council to establish a date for the lifting of checks at internal land borders, the Council stated.

The Bulgarian government issued late on Saturday a press release, in which it stresses that the Council committed to working towards the abolition of checks at the land borders in the Schengen area as well.

“In a joint tripartite declaration with Austria, the commitments of Bulgaria and Romania to strengthen the functioning of Schengen were also outlined”, the Bulgarian government says, referring to the negotiations with Austria, the last country to lift its veto.

“Separately, the European Commission undertook to support Bulgaria and Romania in the protection of the external borders of the EU. Bulgaria will receive significant financial support from the European Commission, as well as operational and technical assistance from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) along the Bulgarian-Turkish and Bulgarian-Serbian borders”, Sofia underlines.

The Bulgarian government rejected as “disinformation” reports in the press in the recent days that Sofia had accepted an additional condition from Vienna to receive refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.

Instead, Sofia explains that it undertakes to limit “secondary” movements of asylum-seekers, and remains committed to the Dublin Regulation, and will readmit asylum-seekers whenever their first point of entry in the EU was Bulgaria.

“Bulgaria does not and cannot accept persons for whom it is not responsible”, Sofia states.

According to Sofia, the tripartite declaration has committed to discussing a date for the abolition of land border controls in 2024.

While lifting the border checks for passengers traveling by air will shorten slightly the time they spent at airports, the lifting of checks at land borders will significantly shorten the waiting time both for passengers and goods.

Romania has calculated that it has lost €25 billion because it has been prevented to join Schengen. Bulgaria has not specified concrete figures, but its hauliers have complained of huge losses from time spent waiting at the country’s borders with Greece and Romania.

Romania and Bulgaria, both members of the EU since 2007, have been ready to join Schengen since 2011, according to the Commission. However, their accession to the border-free zone within which more than 400 million people can travel freely has been met until now with resistance from some of the member states.