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Yesterday, European Union (EU) member countries Bulgaria and Romania became full members of the Schengen Area. The Schengen Area includes 33 countries and micro-states that have abolished border controls and operate as one unified area without the need for passports to travel between nations.
Border checks on those traveling by air and sea to/from Bulgaria and Romania were lifted in March 2024, but land passages were still subject to controls because of an ongoing veto from Austria. It maintained that more was needed to stop irregular migration there according to Reuters.
Now, travelers may freely pass between the 33 nations and micro-states (25 of 27 in the EU, plus eight others). These include:
- Andorra
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Monaco
- The Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- San Marino
- Slovenia
- Slovakia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Vatican City
Ireland and Cyprus remain outside of the Schengen Area.
Bulgarian Prime Minister, Dimitar Glavchev, said:
This is a historic moment. From Greece in the south to Finland to the North and all the way to Portugal to the West – you can travel without borders.”
Anthony’s Take: I love the ease of travel that the Schengen Area provides. Once inside any of the nations, you will not need to pass through border controls again regardless of how many member nations you travel between.
(Image Credits: Immihelp and AL24 News.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
2 comments
UK is not an EU state
I would congratulate them if the EU were just about transparent borders and stuff like that. You’d think Eastern European countries would know better.