What are the costs for keeping member states out of EU’s borderless zone

Starting with March 31^st South-Eastern Europe’s Bulgaria and Romania became partial member of the border- free Schengen Area. The two aspiring nations have been trying to get in for years to become full members yet their efforts were more recently quelled by the Netherlands and Austria.

Schengen agreement represents the pinnacle for freedom of movement within the European Union.

How does this impact the EU and its member states?

The European Parliament issued a press release highlighting the economic burden of keeping both countries outside Schengen.

Romania loses 2 billion euro annually , according to local shipping companies. Bulgaria’s finance minister argues that the loss from Bulgaria's delayed membership in the Eurozone and Schengen is between 4% and 5% of the country's GDP. The data has been available for years and used across the board in Brussels during the many debates on the topic.

Why aren’t Bulgaria and Romania full members of Schengen?

Romania and Bulgaria gained access in March to the Schengen area for air and maritime borders only. That too came about after a long period of rejections.

While EU heavyweights like Germany and France voiced their support for Bulgaria and Romania to become full member states, unanimity was breached by the Dutch parliament in late 2022 urging the former PM Mark Rutte to veto the two applications arguing the prevalence of corruption and organized crime.

Another veto came from Austria after Chancellor Karl Nehammer said an enlarged Schengen area would make Austrian unable to cope with a new influx of migrants.  Neither Bulgaria nor Romania share a common border with Austria.

Officials in Bucharest and Sofia cry foul over the veto at the time, accusing Austria and the Netherlands of unfair treatment and double standards.

European Parliament representative Alin Mituţa says that "Romania enters Schengen as it entered the EU – with half of its rights and with additional requirements".

Romanian MEP Cristian Terheş criticized Austria’s repeated veto against Romania saying that having checks in place at land borders could only have a negative impact on the Romanian economy.

“Austria violated Romania's rights, blocking Romania's entry into Schengen”. The MEP goes on to say that through these repeated rejections “the EU accession treaty signed by Romania is infringed and Austria is given the exclusive right to decide when our country will enter Schengen with land borders”.

Even after the 31^st of March entry date, airports were still enforcing passport controls for Romanian citizens, a fact Vasile Blaga another Romanian MEP draws attention towards.

Regarding the full Schengen accession, the governments of both Romania and Bulgaria insist that they met the necessary criteria years ago. The European Commission and the European Parliament  have been urging all member states to vote them in and confirmed that the candidates have fulfilled all technical conditions.

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