On 31 March, Bulgaria and Romania become Schengen members: the Schengen rules will apply in both Member States including on issuing Schengen visas and controls at the internal air and sea borders will be lifted.
For now. Land borders is next on the agenda and the decision on when to lift them should be taken this year by the European Commission.
It should have never happened. Gradual Schengen entry like this is for new members, not countries who have been meeting the criteria for 12 years.
The fact that countries like Austria can block others’ accession on blatant lies is beyond messed up.
Meanwhile, the Kilometers-long lines of trucks are still at the border, sometimes spending days there. The only things that changed are the two minutes you save at the airport and the politicians bragging how they “got us in Schengen”.
That was a shameful decision and a disgrace. The EU needs major reforms so countries like this can’t abuse their power or try to blackmail others, using Schengen.
Austria still stuck in “great power diplomacy” even though they have become a shrimp on the international stage.