Romania and Bulgaria—the last two EU countries not yet part of the bloc’s free-movement zone—partially joined the Schengen area on Easter Sunday, March 31st.
Due to the persistent Austrian veto, border checkpoints have been lifted only for air and sea travel, while checks at the internal land borders—the main nuisance that gave birth to Schengen in the first place—remain in place. EU leaders are confident that full Schengen integration is possible by the end of the year, but Austria rejects setting up a timetable as it still insists on anti-migration Schengen reforms first.
“This is a great success for both countries,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. “And a historic moment for the Schengen area—the largest area of free movement in the world.”
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also celebrated the milestone on social media by calling it “a well-deserved achievement” that benefits both Romanian citizens and the national economy.
The only problem is, as many commentators pointed out, joining the ‘air and sea’ Schengen is hardly a significant step in any direction. Yes, Romanian and Bulgarian citizens can now travel to other EU countries from 17 airports and 4 maritime ports without having to spend extra time validating their documents, but that 20 to 30 minutes in a queue—less than twice a year, on average—was never the real issue here.
The real issue is the checks at the land borders. Romanians and Bulgarians most often use their cars to travel abroad, and it’s not uncommon to spend several hours at the borders. However, the persistence of internal border checks is especially problematic for the ‘free movement’ of goods, as trucks usually wait days to clear customs at the Schengen borders. This delay costs the countries significant amounts, up to 2% of their GDP per year, as Ciolacu once claimed, threatening to take Austria to court for compensation.
After waiting for over 16 years to join Schengen, this two-step process is nothing but humiliating, especially without any concrete timetable for finalizing it, MEP Eugen Tomac said in December when the decision was made. “It is our right to be in Schengen and we must be treated as European citizens, not discriminated against and humiliated absurdly,” said the MEP who also sued the European Council at the European Court of Justice for this alleged discrimination.
According to the statement of the European Commission, Brussels aims “to ensure that a decision on land borders can be taken in 2024.” Ylva Johansson, the EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner also promised to make Bulgaria and Romania’s full Schengen accession a “priority” for the end of her current mandate in late 2024.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, the only man whose word truly matters on this issue, refused to subscribe to any specific timetable during his recent negotiations with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the EPP’s Bucharest congress in early March. At the congress, the group adopted a manifesto that included a call for the two countries’ full admission to the Schengen area, but—presumably because of Nehammer—didn’t mention any specific timeline but only said “as soon as possible.”
Talking to reporters afterward, Nehammer repeated his earlier arguments that until the secondary movement of illegal migrants across the Schengen area is addressed through sufficient reforms, Austria cannot support Romania and Bulgaria’s full accession. Hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants arrived in Austria last year, the Chancellor noted, all of whom entered the EU in another country that was not supposed to let them go further.
“Austria’s position is clear and unchanged: the Schengen system is not working at the moment and therefore cannot be enlarged,” Nehammer stated.
To be fair, the chancellor does have a point. Conservatives across the bloc have been criticizing the Dublin Regulation for failing to address the so-called secondary movements of illegal migrants between member states, saying that free internal movement in the Schengen is doomed unless the EU implements strong external border protection—something that’s left out of the new Migration and Asylum Pact. Therefore, it’s not Austria that is to blame, but the EU itself for failing to stop migrants at its gates.
On the other hand, another factor might speed up the process despite Austria’s concerns. Late last year, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Romania’s full Schengen accession will be “one of the primary goals” of the EU Council’s Hungarian presidency, scheduled for the second half of 2024.
“Romania becoming a member of the Schengen Area is a clear national interest of Hungary,” Szijjártó said. “Romania is Hungary’s second-largest export market; its Schengen membership will obviously make our economic and trade relations much stronger.”
Hungary might not only use its enlarged platform during the presidency to promote a swift completion of the process but also has a better chance of persuading Austria to drop its veto than anyone else, being one of its primary allies in the fight against illegal migration.
