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.

European Union interior ministers decided on Thursday to drop internal border checks to Bulgaria and Romania from January 1, the Hungarian EU presidency said on X. The move allows the two Eastern European countries to become full members of the visa-free Schengen Area,

Romania and Bulgaria will become full members of the Schengen Area that allows free movement of 420 million people between 29 mostly European Union countries without border checks from Jan. 1, the EU said Thursday.

Romania and Bulgaria will gain full access to the European Union’s passport-free area next year, following a grueling, nearly two-decade push that will help boost their struggling economies.

Romania and Bulgaria will become full members of Europe's Schengen free-travel area from next month, swelling the number of nations to 29, the EU said on Thursday.

Seventeen years after Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union, they have been given the green light to become members of its border-free Schengen travel zone. The decision by fellow EU member states means that from 1 January 2025,