Romania and Bulgaria become fully fledged members of the Schengen area as land border checks lifted

Residents from Romania and Bulgaria can now travel freely in the Schengen area.

Transcript

00:00From 1 January 2025, Bulgaria and Romania will officially become full members of the

00:10Schengen Area, with no land border checks in place.

00:14Bulgarians and Romanians shall now enjoy a significant reduction in time spent waiting

00:19at EU land borders, while companies will also see a reduction in their logistical costs.

00:26Air and sea border checks, meanwhile, had already been removed in March this year.

00:31However, for land border crossings between the two countries, there will be an additional

00:36six-month period, during which random checks will be conducted or based on risk analysis.

00:56Bulgaria's border with Turkey will become an external Schengen border, with the deployment

01:08of 100 police officers from EU countries patrolling the area.