Moving the checkpoints
Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen area. At the beginning of this year Bulgaria and Romania joined the Schengen Agreement for overland traffic, having already been admitted for maritime and air links in March 2024. However, not all border crossings between the southeastern European EU countries offer the same freedom of movement for people and goods.
Whilst checks for heavy goods transport have indeed been lifted at Bulgaria’s Kulata border crossing to Greece, a six-month transition period applies to the border crossings to Romania at Vidin and Ruse.
Until the end of June vehicles and individuals may still be subject to random checks or inspection, based on risk analyses and operational information.
On top of this vehicles and individuals may be checked in a 30 km zone from the frontier in all Bulgarian border regions. In February 2025 the new government under prime minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, the former transport minister, announced its intention to tighten roadside checks at borders and impose strict penalties for violations.
Improve safety; generate toll revenues
The prime minister justified the move by stating that his country’s Schengen membership is expected to lead to increased freight and passenger traffic, and that 1,100 lorry accidents in just six months had resulted in 30 fatalities.
The government expects sporadic but as well as permanent traffic checks to assess vehicles’ technical roadworthiness, along with alcohol and drug tests for drivers, will improve road safety and also generate additional toll revenues.
Checks are seen as an important state instrument to track migrants’ movements and to combat drug and fake-brand smuggling. As such, in addition to border police, customs officials and the country’s food safety agency are also expected to play a role.
Before Bulgaria and Romania joined the Schengen area, freight traffic on the two Danube bridges between the two countries had occasionally seen lorry queues stretching for kilometres and delays lasting many days (see page 13 of ITJ 15-16/2024).
The governments of both Balkan states had protested at the time against what they considered an unjustified delay in their Schengen area accession, which they claimed had cost their economies billions.
Industry associations representing the Romanian and Bulgarian freight transport sectors also complained of competitive disadvantages for their member companies.
From internal to external borders
There have been no waiting times since the new year at the crossing between the Bulgarian city of Vidin to the Romanian town of Calafat, according to Pavel Paunov, the managing director of the operating company of the Danube bridge there.
Despite this, he reports that car traffic has increased by 79% compared to the previous year, and lorry traffic by 15%. “There aren’t any traffic jams, vehicles pass through in seconds and transport companies are satisfied,” Paunov said.
The situation’s more challenging at the ‘Friendship Bridge’ between Ruse in Bulgaria and Giurgiu in Romania, built in the 1950s. The bridge has been undergoing a major overhaul since last year, and traffic restrictions due to ongoing construction work are expected to continue for at least the next two years.
As its capacity is already considered exhausted, Romania and Bulgaria are planning to build a third Danube bridge, also between Ruse and Giurgiu. However, its completion is not expected until the 2030s.
Less checks at Bulgaria’s busiest crossing
While checks at Bulgaria’s internal EU borders with Greece and Romania have been lifted, or significantly reduced, they’ve been tightened at its external EU borders. This is particularly true at Bulgaria’s busiest border crossing, Kapitan Andreevo, on the Turkish border.
In early February a multilateral contingent of 100 additional border police officers was deployed there. The force consists of 25 Bulgarian, 40 Romanian, 20 Hungarian and 15 Austrian officers.
The joint monitoring of the European Union’s external border with Turkey was agreed upon by the participating states in November 2024.
Austria, which had long expressed its concerns about Bulgaria’s ability to protect the European Union’s external border from illegal migration, had made this a condition for it to lift its veto against Bulgaria and Romania’s full Schengen area membership.