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Travelers from the EU's Schengen zone can now enter Romania and Bulgaria
without border checks for the first time. The reverse route will also be free
of border controls from last Easter Sunday. This applies to travelers by plane
and boat. Those who come or go by land still have to show a passport.
 
Romania and Bulgaria have joined the so-called Schengen area on March 31, to
which the vast majority of Europe already belongs. Border controls between
these countries have been lifted. Accession had been a fervent wish of the two
Balkan countries for years, but a number of other Schengen countries felt that
they were not yet ready for it. Opponents feared that the border between
Bulgaria and Turkey, which would become the European and therefore also their
external border, would be far from watertight.
 
Austria has not yet been reassured about this, which means that controls at
the Romanian and Bulgarian national borders are not yet a thing of the past.
The intention is to try to deal with this during the course of the year.

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