Romania and Bulgaria fully join Europe’s borderless travel zone

(CNN) — Romania and Bulgaria have become full members of the European Union’s border-free Schengen area after scrapping land border controls in the bloc.

The expansion was officially introduced at midnight on Wednesday and was marked by celebrations at some of the countries’ border posts.

“Welcome to Schengen, Bulgaria and Romania!” the European Parliament wrote in a post on X Wednesday.

“As of today, there will be no more checks when travelling across land borders between Bulgaria or Romania and any Schengen member country,” it added.

At the stroke of midnight, the Bulgarian and Romanian interior ministers symbolically raised a barrier of the Danube Bridge, Reuters reported. That crossing, also known as the Friendship Bridge, connects the two countries and is a key transit point for international trade. Fireworks were also set off close to the Bulgarian border town of Ruse, where the bridge enters the country.

The two former communist countries partially joined the Schengen area in March when they lifted checks on traveling by air and sea. However, discussions over the land border controls continued.

The final barrier to full membership was removed last month, when Austria dropped a veto it had maintained on the grounds that more was needed to stop irregular migration, Reuters reported.

The European Commission has previously welcomed the expanded Schengen area, describing it as making “the EU stronger as a Union, internally and on the global stage.”

The area now encompasses 25 of the 27 EU member states, excluding Cyprus and Ireland. It also covers Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

According to the European Commission, it enables the free movement of more than 425 million EU citizens, as well as non-EU nationals living in the bloc or visiting.

It also enables citizens in the bloc to travel, work and live without special formalities.

The Schengen zone is the largest area of free movement in the world, according to the commission.

The scheme has occasionally caused friction among its member states, including over flashpoint issues such as security and migration.

In September, Germany chose to temporarily reintroduce controls along all its land borders as part of a crackdown on migration.

Member states have the ability to temporarily reintroduce border control at internal borders in the event of a serious threat to public policy or internal security.