site.btaSchengen Entry: What Measures Will Apply at Bulgaria's Border after Land Checks Are Dropped

EU member states decided Thursday that Bulgaria and Romania will fully join the Schengen аrea from January 1, 2025. Here is what measures are being planned in Bulgaria's border regions after land checks are lifted:

Blagoevgrad

Competent institutions held a working meeting to discuss what border crossing arrangements need to be made, the regional administration of Blagoevgrad reported. They considered removing the signs designating the Kulata checkpoint on the border with Greece, upgrading infrastructure and streamlining the transport flow, putting up new speed limit signs, and leaving only two entry lanes and two exit lanes at Kulata as redundant lanes are closed by the end of 2024. The meeting also discussed the need to renew road surface markings, set up a light-signal system, remove the scales for weighing heavy goods vehicles, clear the speed bumps and possibly remove the control booths. The participants in the meeting looked at the issue of vehicle disinfection at the border. A decision is pending on whether to remove the disinfection equipment or not.

Dobrich

The three checkpoints at the Bulgarian-Romanian border in Dobrich Region (Kardam, Durankulak and Severnyak) will continue to exercise phytosanitary control and carry out disinfection to prevent the spread of animal diseases, the press office of the regional administration in Dobrich told BTA. The Customs Agency will stop collecting road charges and will lift the permit regime at Kardam and Durankulak. Necessary road signs will be installed.

Haskovo

The administration of Haskovo Region is writing a report on re-organizing the operation of the region's two crossings on the border with Greece: Kapitan Petko Voyvoda/Ormenio and Ivailovgrad/Kyprinos, Regional Governor Mehmed Ataman told BTA. The report is to be submitted to the Council of Ministers by December 19. The plan is, at first, to remove part of the traffic control equipment at the two checkpoints on the Bulgarian side and to take down the signs designating the checkpoints. The Regional Road Administration has begun to repave adjoining roads and clean the areas along them, Ataman said. Some form of control will be preserved to prevent the spread of animal infections.

Kardzhali

A plan has been drawn up to remove traffic control equipment at the Makaza checkpoint on Bulgaria's border with Greece, Kardzhali Regional Governor Nikola Chanev told BTA. The plan will be implemented in stages, the first of which will involve taking down the barriers and the signs indicating the existence of a checkpoint. Although the standard type of border controls will no longer be in place at Makaza, there will be other forms of control to curb unregulated migration, but they will be more relaxed, Chanev explained. The Customs Agency will no longer be responsible for cleaning the area. The job will be handed over to the Regional Road Administration as the place becomes part of the national road network. The ban on bus and truck traffic via Makaza remains effective, and offenders will be penalized.

Kyustendil

No changes are planned at the two border checkpoints in Kyustendil Region: Gyueshevo, at the border with North Macedonia, and Oltomantsi, at the border with Serbia, both of which are non-Schengen and non-EU countries, Kyustendil Regional Governor Alexander Pandurski told BTA. He noted that Bulgaria is an external EU border for its two western neighbours.

Montana

The regime at the Lom checkpoint on the Danube River between Bulgaria and Romania, the only border checkpoint in Montana Region, will remain unchanged, Regional Governor Kalin Haitov told BTA. The facility will still be used for checks on ships arriving in the port of Lom to load or unload cargo. There will be no free movement of people via the checkpoint. Prior notice will be required about any ship planning to call at Lom and about the size of its crew.

Pernik

The Strezimirovtsi checkpoint will remain an external EU and Schengen border with Serbia and no changes are planned there concerning passage rules.

Pleven

To control movements across the Danube River between Bulgaria and Romania via the port of Nikopol, it will be necessary to designate vehicle inspection zones outside the ferry terminal, with inspections to be conducted after risk analysis, Pleven Regional Governor Nikolai Abrashev told BTA.

Ruse

No major changes are to be made to the infrastructure in the area of the Danube Bridge 1 checkpoint at the border with Romania after January 1. Planned adjustments concern mainly the signalling system and the organization of traffic, the checkpoint authorities told BTA. They noted that, according to last month's declaration of Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, border controls along Bulgaria's northern frontier will remain in the next six months, though not as massive as now. The checkpoint officials recalled remarks by Border Police Director Anton Zlatanov in November, when he said that not all individuals and vehicles will be checked after January 1. Based on risk analysis and with a focus on curbing irregular migration, between 5% and 10% of the vehicles, mainly outbound ones, will be diverted to the fringes of the border zone to undergo inspection. The main traffic route will be set apart, the Danube Bridge 1 authorities said.

Silistra

The two border crossings in Silistra Region, Silistra/Calarasi (which provides both land and ferry links with Romania) and Kainardzha/Lipnita, will function in accordance with the requirements of the EU regulation, Regional Governor Iliyan Velikov told BTA after meetings with competent institutions. Border controls will continue selectively for six months. The Border Police is yet to determine the vehicle inspection sites and the method of collecting road charges. According to Velikov, the Road Infrastructure Agency will take down the signs designating the border checkpoints and is prepared to paint new road markings. The Regional Food Safety Directorate will keep exercising phytosanitary control and carrying out disinfection to prevent animal diseases from spreading.

Smolyan

Free movement should be possible both ways through the Rudozem crossing on Bulgaria's border with Greece as of January 1 according to Schengen rules. The road from Dimario in Greece to the border with Bulgaria is almost completed. The Greek authorities have said it will be ready by the beginning of January. The building of the Rudozem/Xanthi border crossing has been completed on the Bulgarian side, but its inauguration has been postponed repeatedly due to delays in the construction of the road from Dimario.

Veliko Tarnovo

Checks on vehicles and people ferried across the Danube River between Bulgaria and Romania via the port of Svishtov will continue in the first six months of 2025, but they will be conducted on an irregular basis outside the border zone, said Chief Inspector Petko Angelov, head of the Svishtov Border Police Department. He highlighted the need for technical and infrastructural preparations to build pass control stations at the three points of entry to Svishtov: from Pleven, Ruse and Veliko Tarnovo. This will be easier to do at the former two points, because there are suitable sites there. As regards entry from Veliko Tarnovo, it will be a little more difficult to build a pass control station as it is necessary to choose a site where traffic will not be hindered, Angelov said.

Vidin

Passage across Danube Bridge 2 (Vidin/Calafat) between Bulgaria and Romania and the collection of charges on the bridge will be carried out as before, Vidin Regional Governor Ani Arutyunyan told BTA. In the next six months, the Border Police will exercise only partial control there, based on risk analysis. Customs control of goods under the regimes of export and import or special regimes as well as specific activities will continue.

Vratsa

At the Oryahovo checkpoint on the Danube River between Bulgaria and Romania, border checks will continue with reduced intensity in the first half of 2025. A small portion of the vehicles ferried between Oryahovo and Bechet will be subject to checks on a random basis. The checkpoint buildings will be preserved. Border controls at Oryahovo are expected to be lifted definitively by the end of June 2025. In the meantime, the state institutions working at the checkpoint will take steps for trouble-free re-organization of the work process, the Vratsa regional administration said.