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Romania enters Schengen in March 2024 after agreement with Austria

https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/oficial-romania-intra-in-schengen-in-martie-2024-guvernul-anunta-acordul-cu-austria-2629175

Is this actually true or is it the same old story?

oooooo
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  • I don't know what "the same old story" is, but the BBC are reporting it as well https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67834837. I would assume it is true, as described in that article – matt freake Dec 28 '23 at 19:12
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    Note the with air and sea borders starting from March 2024 portion of the report. Airlines will check passports and checks at land crossings will continue. – Mark Johnson Dec 28 '23 at 19:49
  • @MarkJohnson Airlines will check passports? This is a thing within current Schengen as well, no? – oooooo Dec 29 '23 at 02:18
  • No, not officially, but some airlines do. – Mark Johnson Dec 29 '23 at 02:22
  • Why does it make a difference if airlines check passports if border agents don't? I'm wondering why you mentioned it – oooooo Dec 29 '23 at 02:27
  • Because that is what the other reports say. Schengen-Teilbeitritt für Rumänien und Bulgarien: The government in Vienna explained that the "Schengen-Air" agreement initially only means that the passports of passengers from Romania and Bulgaria will in future only be checked by airlines at the gate. There are currently no negotiations on full Schengen accession. – Mark Johnson Dec 29 '23 at 05:09
  • @oooooo It's not necessarily the case within the Schengen area, the law doesn't generally require it, at least at the EU level, and I have occasionally been able to fly without showing any form of official ID at any point in the process. From what I unread, it's unclear if airline would actually be required to do more than that on flights between Romania, Bulgaria, and the Schengen area. Beyond that, the announcement is really odd, I wrote an answer to address your original question more fully. – Relaxed Dec 29 '23 at 10:11

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Based on the Council decision mentioned in the comments, it seems Bulgaria and Romania are indeed very close to actually entering the Schengen area. The Council hasn't committed to a specific date for lifting the checks on land borders (and Austria implicitly retains a veto on that) but Bulgaria and Romania would count as part of the Schengen area and start issuing Schengen visas from April 2024. Recital 8 and article 2 even specify what should happen to national visas issued before that date, implicitly confirming that national short-stay visas would not exist anymore afterwards.

This is especially significant for third-country citizens (i.e. people from outside the EU). It would mean that time spent in Romania and Bulgaria would count towards the 90 days maximum stay in the Schengen area, that visas issued by either country would allow stays in the rest of the Schengen area (under the usual conditions), and that there would be no need to juggle two visa applications for a visit covering these countries and (other) Schengen countries. Similarly, people from outside the EU residing in Romania or Bulgaria would gain the right to visit other Schengen countries without any additional formality.

One practical difference for all people travelling by air between Romania, Bulgaria, and the rest of the Schengen area would be avoiding queues at the destination airport. EU citizens (including Romanian and Bulgarian citizens) are already supposed to undergo only minimal checks and can typically use automated passport gates, at least if they have a passport, but they still have to queue.

I initially found it a bit odd that it was announced by Austria, Bulgaria, and Romania without any word from the EU Commission or other member states like Spain (currently presiding the EU Council) but my reading of the decision is that this goes beyond the “same old story” of kicking the can down the road.

Incidentally, I will note that the provisions on border checks at internal Schengen borders have become very weak in practice. Schengen countries routinely reimpose checks, either by repeatedly invoking the official “temporary” mechanism or simply by ignoring the rules and pretending the checks are somehow “not systematic”. So even if the decision says that “The Council shall endeavour to take a decision lifting checks on persons at internal land borders”, the fact is that they could go on for a long time without much impact on the rest of the rules governing the Schengen area.

Relaxed
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    The decision was approved by the council last night, here’s the result: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-17132-2023-INIT/en/pdf it will probably take a bit of time to digest exactly what this all means. – jcaron Dec 31 '23 at 10:40
  • @jcaron That's very interesting, thanks! – Relaxed Dec 31 '23 at 16:59