After 13 years of waiting, Romania and Bulgaria will be allowed into the Schengen area with open borders this weekend - but only partially.
Free movement applies from Sunday. But only for air and sea traffic because Austria has opposed the countries becoming full Schengen members, fearing a large influx of asylum seekers.
Although many see great symbolic value in the countries joining, not everyone is happy. Truck drivers' unions have repeatedly protested against the long queues at the borders with their European neighbors.
“Romanian hauliers have lost billions of euros every year, just because of long waiting times,” said Radu Dinescu, secretary general of Romania’s largest road transport association, earlier in March.
Romanian truck drivers may have to wait 8–16 hours at the border with Hungary, and 20–30 hours at the Bulgarian border.
For Bulgaria, the land route is by far the most important.
“Only 3 percent of Bulgarian goods are transported by air and sea. We don’t know when the other 97 percent will be included,” says Vasil Velev, president of the Bulgarian industry association Bica.
