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Ceremonies were held just before midnight Tuesday to mark Bulgaria's and Romania's full membership in Europe's Schengen area, the culmination of years of negotiations by the Eastern European countries to join the ID check-free travel zone.
Identification checks at the land borders between Bulgaria and Romania and their neighboring European Union-member countries were officially ceased at midnight, providing travelers free access to the rest of the 27-member EU bloc. The two countries partially joined the Schengen area in March, but open travel was restricted to those arriving only by air or sea.
