At midnight, the Ministers of the Interior of Bulgaria, Atanas Ilkov, and Romania, Katalin Predoyu, went to the border checkpoint, the Danube Bridge, to officially open the right to move freely in the Schengen area, the region without borders of Europe.
Romanian and Bulgarian citizens met at the border for this celebration.
This new freedom of movement is an important moment for Romanians and Bulgarians
The 25 million residents of these two countries now join the approximately 450 million citizens of the European Union who can already move freely within the Schengen area.
It took a long time for the two countries to join the European Union, seventeen years ago, and for negotiations to enter the Schengen area to begin in 2011.
When the European Commission gave the green light to both countries in December, it told them that they could now officially feel like members of the European Union.
No more queues at borders
L’Schengen area was established in 1985 and today includes 29 countries, most of which are EU member states, as well as a few non-EU countries, including Iceland and Switzerland.
Until today, residents of these countries had to queue for long periods at the 30 land borders between Romania and Bulgaria, awaiting official controls.
For Bulgarians and Romanians, this means they will now be able to travel to France, Spain and Norway without a passport. Drivers and passengers no longer have to present identity documents and cars can pass without checks.
However, at least for the first six months, random checks will be carried out on travelers at the border to deter criminal activity, with particular attention to large vehicles.
More Europeans may also travel to Romania and Bulgaria, bringing with them a new generation of tourists.
