After 13 years of waiting, Romania and Bulgaria joined the borderless Schengen area European Union news

Identity checks at the land borders of Bulgaria and Romania have been suspended, opening up free travel to the rest of the European Union.

Romania and Bulgaria became full members of the Schengen zone, expanding the border-free area to 29 members and ending a 13-year wait for the two Eastern European countries.

The expansion, made possible when Austria and other members dropped their objections to the accession of ex-communist countries, was officially marked at midnight on Wednesday (22:00 GMT) with ceremonies at various border posts.

Identity checks at the land borders between Bulgaria and Romania and their neighboring EU member states were officially suspended at midnight, and travelers were granted free entry to the rest of the 27-member bloc.

Two Balkan countries partially connected In March, the Schengen Area, however, restricted open travel to those arriving by air or sea.

On Tuesday evening, the interior ministers of Bulgaria and Romania met at the Ruse-Giurgiu border crossing between the two countries to celebrate the opening of the border. Another short ceremony was held at the border crossing point between Hungary and Romania, a meeting between the head of the national police of Hungary and the chief inspector of the Romanian border police.

Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, but were not integrated into the border-free zone until March. The land border checks remained in place due to concerns that the two countries were not doing enough to prevent unauthorized migrant entry, mainly due to objections from Austria.

The Extension of the Schengen zone After months of efforts by the Hungarian government to integrate Bulgaria and Romania into the zone, it holds the six-month EU presidency.

About one million ethnic Hungarians live in Romania’s Transylvania region, a legacy of the partition of Hungary after World War I. Relations between the two countries have historically been difficult, but the opening of the border will facilitate travel and strengthen ties between the regions.

One of the main achievements of the European project, Schengen was established in 1985 as an intergovernmental project between five EU countries – France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It gradually became the largest free travel area in the world.

However, a number of Schengen member states, including the Netherlands, Austria and Germany, have reintroduced some land border checks this year over concerns ranging from migration to security. Some EU officials have warned that reintroduced checks could undermine the scheme’s aims.

Before the partial admission of Bulgaria and Romania, Schengen consisted of 23 of the 27 EU member states, along with Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. About 3.5 million people cross the internal border every day, and more than 420 million people live in the Schengen zone.