European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday welcomed the partial accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen zone, a day before citizens of the two countries will no longer be subject to border controls at airports and ports.

The European Commission said in a press release that it enthusiastically welcomes this achievement, the materialization of the historic Council decision of December 2023. The accession of two member states to the Schengen area brings a significant expansion of the largest common territory. in a world without internal border controls, increasing its attractiveness, according to the Commission.

“Tomorrow marks an important date: Bulgaria and Romania join the Schengen family. I welcome the abolition of internal air and sea border controls. This is a great success for both countries. And a historic moment for the Schengen zone – the largest zone of free movement in the world. Together we are building a stronger and more united Europe for all our citizens,” said Ursula von der Leyen.

Since December last year, both member states have taken all necessary measures to ensure the uninterrupted application of Schengen rules, starting from March 31, 2024, the European Commission also noted.

The Council will have to decide on the date from which internal land border controls between Bulgaria, Romania and other Schengen countries will be lifted. The Commission will continue to provide the Presidency of the Council with all the necessary support to ensure a decision on land borders during 2024.

Back in 2011, the European Commission confirmed in the Schengen evaluation reports that Bulgaria and Romania fulfilled all the requirements for full accession to the Schengen area and actively supported this process.

The Schengen zone without internal border controls is one of the achievements of the EU, which is most appreciated by European citizens, the European Commission also emphasized.

Romania in Schengen, from March 31, with an air and sea border. What will be the rules at airports

From Sunday, Romania enters Schengen, but only with an air and sea border, on the condition that Austria does not give in and continues to keep our country on the land border of the European space of free movement.

This means that from March 31, people traveling to or from Schengen countries will no longer have to go through border controls at 17 airports and ports.

State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) Bohdan Despescu said that there will be no additional obligations for passengers, but only for the authorities.

At a press conference on Thursday, he explained what Romania’s accession to Schengen would mean with air and sea borders, presenting the new rules:

• As of March 31, 2024, people traveling to or from Schengen member states will no longer have to go through border controls at the 17 airports and four seaports located in Konstanz County.
• Specifically, after passing the security control procedure at the airport, which is currently in effect at all international airports, including the Schengen area, people entering the terminal will not go through border control, as is the case today, per ton.
• Passengers will proceed directly to the boarding gate and will be able to be checked along the way by border police and mixed crews from the Romanian police, gendarmerie and the General Immigration Inspectorate.
• The counters, which currently work on both Schengen and non-Schengen flows, will only work on the non-Schengen flow from Sunday.
• For trips to non-Schengen countries, both Romanian adults and minors, travel conditions remain the same, and documents will be checked at border police control filters.

Random controls

According to a representative of the MAI, random checks will be carried out to identify those who have false travel documents, who are being monitored or who are prohibited from leaving the country. If no problems are detected during the control procedures, the passengers will continue their journey without problems, and if violations are detected, the relevant person will be taken to the second line of checks, where the situation will be clarified.

Even citizens coming to Romania from Schengen will no longer be checked after disembarkation, as is the case now, at the ticket offices. In addition, they may be randomly checked by groups of police and gendarmerie.

• “In order to simplify interaction with citizens and reduce the time of verification at the level of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the control mechanism has been improved by equipping our employees with scanning systems, document verification in digital form and systems that can be used on the road, mobile.
• If today we talk about these systems only in tones, in meters, then from March 31 these devices can be used in the airport parking lot, in the entrance area of ​​the terminal or in the boarding area before the boarding gates,” said the secretary. state in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to him, from March 31, the staff at airports and ports will be increased, and groups with dogs will work to detect drugs.

“This additional force aims to inform, guide, support passengers and identify those who want to take advantage of this opportunity to leave Romania illegally. At the same time, the canine teams specialized in drug detection will act on the basis of analytical measures or on the basis of the signals that we still have today,” Despescu also noted.

How many passengers passed through Romania’s airports in 2023

In 2023, 23 million passengers passed through Romanian airports.

Last year, more than 160,000 flights were registered at Romanian airports, 66% of which were Schengen flights. Otopeni Airport accounts for more than half of Schengen, followed by Cluj-Napoca Airport with approximately 3 million passengers and Iași Airport with approximately 2 million. Of the total number of passengers, 300,000 were minors, 2.5,000 of them were subject to non-departure measures.

Travel conditions for minors with Air Schengen

Under what conditions will minors be able to travel from March 31?

As reported by the border police, they will no longer carry out border control and will also go directly to the boarding gate. They will not need an additional permit, they will be able to travel in the Schengen zone with the same documents as before.

The head of the border police, Cornel Laurian Stoyka, reminded on Sunday what documents are required if a child is traveling accompanied by only one parent or another person:

• valid travel document; consent of the second parent in case of a trip accompanied by only one parent;
• consent of both parents for a trip accompanied by a person other than the parents; only a travel document if he is going to his home/place of residence and provides proof of this; only the consent of one of the parents when traveling for training/competition/treatment and confirms the stated purpose of the trip.

If a minor is 16 years old and traveling unaccompanied, he will need: a valid travel document; consent of both parents; only a travel document if it contains proof of residence/residence in the country you are traveling to.

To check whether minors and their companions have the necessary documents, the border police may carry out a random check at the airport.

• “If it turns out that they are not in them, they will not be allowed to leave the country. Accompanying minors, except parents or legal representatives, are no longer required to present a criminal record certificate in physical form. It is checked electronically by a border police officer.
• However, if the border police officer finds that the minor’s companion has committed certain crimes under the law, he will not be allowed to leave the country with the minor. These are the following crimes: murder; crimes against sexual freedom and integrity; crimes related to trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable persons; illegal deprivation of liberty; crimes related to the trafficking of drugs or precursors; trade in human tissues or organs; terrorist crimes,” said the Inspector General of the Border Police.

“Everything else is counterproductive”

However, land border controls will continue after March 31, as Austria continues to oppose Romania’s full accession to Schengen.

On March 5, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner insisted that he must first see how Romania and Bulgaria join Schengen with an air and sea border from March 31, and only then think about the next step, access through land borders: “Anything else is counterproductive.”

Journalists asked Gerhard Karner, who was present at the meeting of the ministers of the interior and justice of the EU, whether something will change in the near future in Austria’s position regarding the full accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen, including with land borders, News.ro reports.

“At the beginning of the year we had a very open and intensive dialogue and we reached a compromise that will enter into force at the end of this month, more precisely at the end of March, the so-called sea Schengen and air Schengen,” said Gerhard Koerner, referring to the accession agreement reached Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen with air and sea borders from the end of March.

At the same time, Austria’s interior minister suggested that Vienna was in no rush to make a decision on land borders, preferring to see how this partial Schengen works and then “think about it”.

“Let’s implement this compromise first”

“I think it is very important that we implement this compromise first, take this step and think about the next step after that,” Karner told reporters in Brussels, who raised the issue of complaints from Austrian companies over the “blockade” on the border with Bulgaria and Romania makes it difficult for them to do business.

“Anything else is counterproductive,” argued Gerhard Karner. “I consider it wrong to speculate about the next step before the first step has been taken,” said the Minister of the Interior of Austria. “We need to see how it works (compromise – no), and then the next steps are possible.

Taking the second or even the third step before the first is completely wrong and counterproductive, and sometimes leads to people not being satisfied with how the mechanism works,” Carner insisted.