Romania and Bulgaria have become full members of the European Union’s border-free Schengen area after scrapping land border controls in the bloc.

Bulgaria and Romania are holding ceremonies to mark their full membership in Europe’s Schengen area, the culmination of years of negotiations by the Eastern European countries to join the ID check-free travel zone.

Fireworks lit the sky at a crossing close to the Bulgarian border town of Ruse just after the stroke of midnight as the Bulgarian and Romanian interior ministers symbolically raised a barrier on the Friendship Bridge straddling the Danube River.

Bulgaria and Romania have become full members of the Schengen Area on January 1, 2025, marking a significant expansion of the world's largest borderless travel zone.

The European Union ministers has agreed to let Bulgaria and Romania fully integrate into Europe’s ID-check-free travel zone known as the Schengen area by lifting land border controls next year.

Romania and Bulgaria became full members of the Schengen zone on Wednesday, expanding the borderless area to 29 members and ending a 13-year wait for the two eastern European countries.Romania and Bulgaria,

The Bulgarian border