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03:32

Romania's wait to join the EU's Schengen border-free zone will come to an end - partially at least - after 30 members of the zone agreed to conditionally and gradually accept the country into the group.

The Schengen free movement rules - which enable citizens and travellers to move freely between EU countries without border checks - will apply on Romania's air and maritime border crossings starting from March 2024.

The land border crossings will still be outside of the Schengen zone, but talks will continue on opening them next year. The agreement was reached after years of negotiations to allow Romania, an EU country since 2007, to become a part of the zone.

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The decision was welcomed in Bucharest, but with a bittersweet taste as all land ramps at the border crossings with Hungary will remain in operation after March 2024.

Romania will join the Schengen border-free zone via air and sea from March 2024, but land borders will remain in place./CGTN.

Just around the Christmas holidays, CGTN visited Bucharest's main airport, which was bustling with passengers travelling to and from international destinations. Romanians traveling to and from the country are still asked to go through passport control.

There is a part of the departure terminal that was built 11 years ago in preparation for the country entering the Schengen zone. It will have to wait until March before it opens its gates to the Schengen zone travelers and Cristian Diaconescu, Romania's former foreign minister, says it can't come soon enough.

"Romania, from the economic point of view, is losing €2 billion euros every year due to the fact that we are not members of the Schengen agreement," he told CGTN Europe.

Part of the departure terminal at Romania's main Bucharest airport was built 11 years ago in preparation for the country entering the Schengen zone./CGTN.

Some estimates put that figure as high as $11 billion, due to lost trade, taxes, and waiting. Austria, the strongest opponent of Romania's accession, proposed a gradual and conditional entry. It was a proposal that was eventually agreed upon, but not without complaints from Bucharest. They think that they were treated unevenly, comparing to Croatia, which was accepted last year.

"Elements that were put forward by Austria, at least in regards to Romania, are far less significant and important in comparison with some migration corridors coming from Croatia," Diaconescu added.

The issue of migration was raised by Austria during the negotiations. They want Romania to do more to fight against illegal immigrants entering the country.

Austria has previously objected to Romania joining the Schengen zone after accusing Romania of not doing enough to fight illegal migration. But it relented after a phased approach was proposed by other EU countries./CGTN.

"In the first 11 months, 436 migrants were discovered while attempting to cross the border illegally on foot," Andrei Dinca, a spokesperson of Border Police Arad Area told CGTN. "Over 6,400 were discovered in various means of transportation."

Several kilometers from the Nadlac border crossing, we joined Denisa and Marius, two Romanian border police officers, in their patrol as they searched for illegal migrants. Their SUV navigated over the Nadlac's muddy backroads, but sometimes they had to continue on foot, despite adverse weather conditions.

They hope their efforts will help prove Romania's determination to limit illegal crossings and eventually become a full member of the exclusive Schengen club.