Moment of relief as Romania and Bulgaria join EU border-free zone

Seventeen years after Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union, they were given the green light to become members of its borderless Schengen travel zone.

The decision by the other EU member states means that from January 1, 2025 it will be possible to drive to France, Spain or Norway without a passport.

It is a moment of great relief for the 25 million people living in Romania and Bulgaria, who will finally feel accepted as full members of the EU. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said it was a “day of joy”.

Although border controls for air and sea travel were lifted for the two countries last March, it was not until last month that Austria lifted its resistance to ending land border controls.

But for truckers, the border bureaucracy is not over yet.

Hungary It appears that he will continue to inspect each truck and its documents for at least six months at the main border crossing between Romania and Hungary in Nadlac.

Bulgaria has built a new truck park and electronic barrier in Ruse, next to the bridge across the Danube into Romania, charging €25 (£20) per truck.

And countries fearing a rise in illegal migration have imposed “temporary” border controls across the continent.

The Schengen zone first became a reality in 1985 and now includes most EU nations, as well as some non-EU countries, including Norway and Switzerland.

The UK has never been to Schengen, although UK visitors can currently visit the zone visa-free for up to 90 days every 180 days.

The Hungarian and Romanian border police were timid when I crossed from Hungary into Romania hours before the EU announcement.

“Tomorrow we will know the details,” said a Hungarian official with a smile.

And it is the devil that may be in the details.

Ovidiu Dabija headed to the border at dawn after maneuvering his SUV with a 31-foot-long Sterk motorboat from a shipyard in Timisoara, the main city in western Romania.

He drives the motorboat from his home in Germany to one boat show after another. Last week he was in Athens. Next week he will travel to the manufacturer’s headquarters near Nuremberg.

“Romania’s accession to Schengen will save me hours at each border crossing,” he tells me at a rest area next to the Nadlac crossing.

“Our drivers lose at least 12 hours at each border crossing,” says Radu Dinescu, director of the Romanian Road Transport Association. “The worst wait was five days at the border between Hungary and Romania.”

It estimates that the Romanian road transport industry lost €19 billion between 2012 and 2023 due to border delays. That drove up the prices that consumers ended up paying.

“The main beneficiaries from January 1 will be cars and individuals,” says Dinescu, although they too will continue to be subject to random checks.

In the case of trucks, he doesn’t think there will be much immediate difference.

The big problem for truckers, he says, is that all truck inspections are carried out at the border, from weighing to permits and cargo control, including health and environmental examinations, as well as the search for immigrants. illegal.

In other countries that are already within the Schengen zone, these checks are carried out more quickly and efficiently in dedicated car parks on motorways, far from the border.

Radu Dinescu blames successive Romanian governments for failing to negotiate new agreements with the country’s neighbors to ease pressure on the borders.

It cites a 2008 EU regulation that requires checking the weight and dimensions of trucks at border crossings between EU member states to be eliminated.

This has never been implemented on the Romanian border with Hungary or on the Romanian border with Bulgaria, due to competition between rival inspections.

It is not only about trade, but also about investment, says the director of the Romanian Association of Road Transporters.

When BMW was trying to choose between Hungary and Romania as a location for a new car factory, the wait at the Romania-Hungary border mysteriously increased.

BMW subsequently chose the Hungarian city of Debrecen.

Dacia Renault, Romania’s largest car manufacturer, faces constant delays in the delivery of spare parts across Schengen borders. “I don’t want to underestimate the value of our land borders joining Schengen, but there is still work to do,” says Dinescu.

In Timisoara, Philip Cox of Romania’s largest wine exporter Cramele Recas is more optimistic.

“Border controls will take a while to disappear,” he believes, “but it will happen, maybe in six months, because it is in everyone’s interest.”

And that will make his wines more competitive in the northern and western European markets, he believes.