Bucharest, March 8, 2024. The National Union of Road Hauliers from Romania (UNTRR) draws attention to the fact that the "Schengen system," mentioned yesterday in Bucharest by the Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer, as "not functioning, therefore cannot be extended," actually only works for friend countries, from which Romania is excluded.

Radu Dinescu, Secretary General of UNTRR:

“"However harsh it may sound, we wish to denounce Austria's hypocrisy, which calmly conveyed to us yesterday that the Schengen system does not work - hence Romania will not join this time either - without explaining, however, why the 'system' does not work and what the actual problem is. On the other hand, for transporters, the position of the Romanian authorities is profoundly disappointing, being completely silent. They have once again demonstrated their inability to offer any kind of institutional or legal response to neighboring countries on such a vital national issue as full accession to the Schengen area. In this situation, we urgently need clarification on a clear date for joining with land borders, even if conditional. This would generate exemplary mobilization domestically and should be supported by external partners, especially those currently opposing expansion, such as Austria."  

Truck queues at the borders: typically 8-16 hours at the Hungary border, with peaks of up to 3 days during holidays and a historical maximum of 5 days waiting time, and usually 20-30 hours at the Bulgarian border, with peaks of 3 days. While Romania faces another delay in joining the Schengen area, the road transport industry is losing money (2.55 billion euros in losses in 2023, and 2.41 billion euros in 2022) and essential working hours due to the long queues of trucks at the border points with Hungary and Bulgaria.

After analyzing the situations lingering at the borders, UNTRR draws attention to the fact that the authorities in Hungary and Bulgaria deliberately create real barriers against free movement within the single market, using various methods with the aim of gaining their own economic advantages, to the detriment of Romania. Two examples: Hungary's access software at Nădlac did not function for several hours this week, leading to waiting times at the border of up to 12 hours; and regarding Bulgaria, Romanian drivers are still discriminated against in the parking lot at Ruse, paying a rate of 25 euros per day compared to the 7 euros paid by Bulgarians. As a result of this situation, Romanian drivers end up waiting in the parking lot for up to 30 hours.

In this context, UNTRR requests that the Romanian Government intervene firmly with the European Commission to eliminate such artificial barriers that the authorities of neighboring EU countries put in the way of Romanian economic operators. Road hauliers also draw attention to the fact that such blockages would have not existed if Romania had already joined the Schengen area with its land borders.

It should be noted that Romania has been awaiting the accession to the Schengen area for 13 years, since March 27, 2011, when European institutions agreed that Romania meets all the technical conditions for accession. Over these years, there have been several rounds of negotiations between Romanian and European authorities, all unsuccessful. During this time, the road transport industry has lost over 19.1 billion euros (2012-2023), representing over 16% of the total market. The impact of the losses is overwhelming, especially considering that road transport is Romania's main exporter of services, generating €7.81 billion last year.