Romania has tightened up border controls. | Photo: TV capture

Hundreds of cars and goods vehicles waited for hours at Romania’s checkpoints with Hungary over the weekend as the custom procedures slowed following Bucharest’s decision to tighten border controls.

“I took almost four hours to pass the border, and this is affecting my business as I am transporting perishable goods. But we have to accept the situation, as Europe is facing terrorist threats,” one driver said, according to local media.

Romanian Border Police on Friday announced “thorough checks” at the country’s borders aiming to prevent any activities that might represent a possible security threat.

“The measure is temporary and aims to prevent people from conflict zones from carrying out activities that are a real threat to internal and foreign security,” according to police. They did not elaborate on the possible threats.

Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry has warned that drivers who want to cross the border to Romania should expect delays after Bucharest tightened border controls.

In a related development, Romanian Interior Minister Petre Toba on Saturday said Bucharest fully backed the EU decision to tight up checks on the European Union’s external borders.

At a meeting in Brussels on Friday, EU justice and interior ministers asked the Commission early next year, when the Commission presents its Smart Borders package, to upgrade the technology at Schengen entry points, according to media reports.

That means that border guards will systematically check with the Schengen Information System, SIS, to see whether travelers are considered dangerous and merit being searched by the police. Until now, only the authenticity of the passport has been verified.

Ministers also agreed on other measures, including information-sharing on terror suspects and on the financing of terrorist groups, and called for swift implementation of an EU passenger name record system to track air travel.

A proposal to create a “mini-Schengen” agreement among a smaller number of countries, floated by the Dutch government, was not discussed, according to several EU diplomats.

The European Union is trying to tighten the border control in the wake of the attacks in Paris on 20 December, after it became clear that some of the terrorists travelled freely from Syria on EU passports.