Romanian citizens travelling to the Schengen area will no longer pass border control at airports starting with March 31
No border controls at Romanian airports for Romanian citizens flying to destinations in the Schengen area. The Romanian authorities are preparing for partial accession to Schengen. Therefore, passengers will go directly to the boarding gates, and the airport administrations have reorganized the routes.
Starting from Sunday, at the 17 airports in Romania, there will no longer be border controls for Romanian citizens flying to countries in the Schengen area. Border police checks will however be an exception for suspect passengers. At Otopeni Airport in Bucharest, only 14 of 57 boarding gates remain for non-Schengen destinations.
"I think it's an excellent idea, so we don't waste time in queues";
"As for minor Romanian citizens, as in the case of adults, they will no longer carry out border control and will also go directly to the boarding gate. They will no longer need any additional notice, being able to travel in the Schengen area with the same documents as until now", said Laurean Stoica, head of the Romanian Border Police.
"There are certain vulnerabilities with the lifting of border controls, there are citizens who of course can take advantage of this, but here we intervene on police cooperation and with the application of the Dublin agreements which means return. So sooner or later, they will be brought back to Romania", said Cătălin Predoiu, Minister of Internal Affairs.
Romania and Bulgaria join Schengen on March 31 with air and sea borders only. The Austrian government opposes full integration.
