Romania and Bulgaria enter land Schengen on January 1, 2025

The Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) decided today, in Brussels, that Romania and Bulgaria will fully enter the Schengen area from 1 January 2025. It is an extremely important moment for our country, which has been waiting for years for a favorable vote to join the European area of ??free movement.

Economic expectations are significant from Romanian and Bulgarian companies, with a significant increase in trade expected as a result of the reduction of formalities and transport times, but also the ease of purchasing goods and services that this facility comes with.

For Romanian industry, this means a real increase in the sales market for finished products (furniture, small furniture, etc.) but also timber, beams and construction elements, pallets and pallet elements. At the same time, deliveries of wooden houses to end customers in the European area have been greatly facilitated, considering that they usually had additional difficulties in terms of their assembly and finishing.

Thus, Romanian producers will have much easier access to potential customers in a market of about 450 million people.

Also, the land accession to the Schengen area also means a reduction in transport times and hence a relative reduction in transport and supply costs, which will increase the attractiveness of wood industry products on European markets.

The accession to the land area occurred following the elimination of the last obstacle, namely, Austria's opposition manifested through its right of veto. This was possible as a result of lengthy negotiations and also the phasing of integration into the Schengen area.

Currently, the Schengen area is a free trade travel area covering 29 countries, joined by Romania and Bulgaria for land transport.