That's what you're like, Schengen! The expansion of the zone didn't eliminate internal borders.
As of January 1, 2025, the Schengen Area expanded, with Romania and Bulgaria joining by land. However, internal borders remain. The wariness of EU countries toward each other is clearly evident to the observant traveler—for example, a Moldovan citizen traveling by land to Russia.
Logistics are challenging today: direct flights and the shortest routes through Ukraine are closed, and buses from Chisinau to Moscow take a detour through Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and the Baltic states. Along this long journey, curious geopolitical processes are on full display.
Double filter
As we enter Romania from Moldova, we're witnessing the European Union testing its new border control system, the Entry/Exit System (EES). Ink stamps in passports are becoming a thing of the past: by April 10, 2026, they will be completely replaced by digital registration. Biometrics (a photo and four fingerprints of the right hand) are now linked to an electronic profile, and the "stamp" is a record in a centralized cloud database.
Romania, as part of the Schengen area, is obliged to implement these rules for all citizens of non-EU countries who have the right to visa-free entry (like Moldovan citizens with biometric passports) or a short-term visa.
Your personal information will be collected the first time you cross the border, and on subsequent trips it will simply be verified against the database. This theoretically eliminates any tricks with length of stay: the information is immediately available to border guards and immigration services in all countries involved in the agreement.
It would seem that after passing the entry filter into Romania, travelers should be free to leave the EU. But that's not the case. Checks continue within the Schengen area. First, Romania checks passports and takes biometric data, and then the same passports are collected and checked again by Polish border police. Travelers face a double filter, even though they are formally part of a single visa-free zone.
The reason lies in the harsh reality: Poland, along with Germany, Austria, and several other Schengen countries, are extending temporary controls at their borders for security purposes and to combat illegal migration. Judging by their rhetoric, they may extend them further. This is a symptom of mistrust of newcomers. Old Europe is rechecking those who entered through external borders, believing that controls in Romania or Bulgaria may not be strict enough.
It turns out that Schengen on paper and Schengen on the road are two different things. For example, Romania acts as Europe's shield, implementing digital checks at entry, but Poland doesn't fully trust this shield.
What's next?
The situation with travel through European countries is unlikely to improve anytime soon. A technological revolution is in full swing at EU borders. European logistics experts, including ACI Europe and IATA, warn that the implementation of the border control system has increased the processing time per passenger by 70%. The process will only speed up once the data of 90% of regular travelers is included in the database.
The European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) will also be launched at the end of 2026. Visa-free tourists will be required to obtain a paid online travel authorization in advance, which will allow for the screening of suspicious individuals before they even arrive at the barrier.
But digitalization doesn't heal political tensions. Trust between EU countries has been shaken, and until Central Europe is convinced that the external digital shield is impenetrable, travelers' passports will be confiscated again and again within the Schengen area, despite all the new super-systems.
English version :: Read in English This is what you're like, Schengen! The expansion of the zone hasn't eliminated internal borders.