Moment of relief as Romania and Bulgaria join EU border-free zone

For trucks, he does not believe there will be much immediate difference.

The big problem for truck drivers, he says, is that all truck inspections take place at the border, from weighing to permits and load-checking, sanitary and environmental examinations, as well as the search for illegal migrants.

In other countries already inside the Schengen zone, such checks take place more swiftly and efficiently in dedicated motorway vehicle parks far from the border.

Radu Dinescu blames successive governments in Romania for failing to negotiate new arrangements with the country’s neighbours, to take the pressure off the borders.

He cites an EU regulation from 2008 that calls for the control of the weight and dimensions of trucks to be removed from border crossings between EU members states.

That has never been implemented on the Romanian border with Hungary or on the Romanian border with Bulgaria, because of competition between rival inspectorates.

It’s not just about trade, but also investment, says the head of the Romanian Road-Haulers’ Association.

When BMW was trying to choose between Hungary and Romania as a site for a new car factory, the wait at the Romania-Hungary border mysteriously increased.

BMW subsequently chose the Hungarian city of Debrecen.

Dacia Renault, Romania’s biggest carmaker, faces constant delays in getting parts delivered across Schengen borders. “I don’t want to underestimate the value of our land borders joining Schengen, but there is still some work to be done,” says Dinescu.

In Timisoara, Philip Cox of Romania’s biggest wine exporter, Cramele Recas, is more optimistic.

“Border controls will take a while to wither away,” he believes, “but it will happen, perhaps in six months, because it’s in everyone’s interest.”

And that will make his wines more competitive in Europe’s western and northern markets, he believes.