Romania to Receive Air and Sea Schengen in March 2024
The European Union countries have agreed on Romania's partial accession to the Schengen area in terms of air and sea travel, which is to be officially approved in 2024, the Romanian newspaper Adevărul reports, citing sources in the Romanian government.
According to media reports, after several weeks of negotiations, the Council of the European Union agreed to Romania's accession to the conditional air and maritime Schengen from 31 March 2024, while full accession may take place in 2025.
The decision was preceded by positive signals, such as the Netherlands withdrawing its objection to Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area (both countries were considered together) and a political agreement on new EU migration rules.
Romanian MEPs believe that the migration pact satisfies the demands of Austria, which blocked Romania and Bulgaria's accession to Schengen precisely because of the alleged risk of increased migration.
"(Austrian Chancellor) Karl Nehammer no longer has anything to discriminate against Romanians and humiliate them in customs queues," said Romanian MEP Vlad Gheorghe.
Romania's two-stage accession to the Schengen area implies that it will move in this direction separately from Bulgaria. Adevărul does not specify whether this means Sofia joining Schengen sooner.
In December 2022, EU interior ministers failed to approve Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the Schengen area, but agreed to Croatia's accession. Austria and the Netherlands voted against Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area, claiming that Bucharest and Sofia had problems curbing illegal migration.
As The Gaze previously reported, in December 2023, Austria announced that it was ready to agree to Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen area, but only for air travel and in exchange for increased security at the EU's external borders.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner explained that if the requirements for enhanced security at the EU's external borders are met, passport checks between Romania and Bulgaria and Schengen countries could be cancelled, but only for air travel - a solution he called "air Schengen". Karner added that he had sent a document with Vienna's position to the European Commission, and now "the ball is in its court".