Switzerland abolishes air border controls with Bulgaria and Romania

Passport checks for people flying to and from Bulgaria and Romania will be abolished at Swiss airports. The Swiss government has agreed to follow the recent decision of the European Union to abolish internal border controls on the air and sea borders with Bulgaria and Romania, "Swissinfo" reported.
On 30 December, the EU Council unanimously decided to abolish checks on people at the internal air and sea borders with Bulgaria and Romania from 31 March 2024. Land border controls will remain in place, but the Council hinted that they will be taken up in the future decision on this matter.
Switzerland, which is a member of Europe's passport-free Schengen area, follows this decision. Romania and Bulgaria will also be able to issue their own Schengen visas, the government said in a statement.
The experience of Croatia joining the Schengen area on January 1, 2023 has shown that such a decision does not lead to a significant increase in immigration, non-EU Switzerland said.
Existing instruments, including preventive measures, are used to combat illegal migration flows and crime.
The EU's decision was taken after 12 years of negotiations. Last year, Austria imposed its veto in protest at too many illegal migrants arriving on its territory, then agreed to lift it in exchange for guarantees.
Sofia and Bucharest agreed to strengthen their fight against illegal migration. Bulgaria and Romania, which have been members of the EU since 2007, have also committed to fully implement European law, which stipulates that asylum applications must be processed in the country of arrival of migrants.
The Schengen area, created in 1985, allows more than 400 million people to travel freely within Europe without internal border controls. It includes 23 of the 27 EU member states, as well as their associated neighbors Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. /BGNES