Croatia will join Europe’s Schengen visa-free travel zone on January 1. Romania and Bulgaria, however, will have to wait.

“I am confident that these successes will pave the way for other member states who fulfil the conditions to take the next step in their European journeys,” said Vít Rakušan, interior minister for the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

The EU’s borderless Schengen area is the world’s largest free travel zone and is often hailed as one of the top achievements of European integration.

The announcement came as justice and home affairs ministers were meeting in Brussels to discuss a planned expansion of the Schengen zone, which allows borderless movement between 26 mostly EU countries. 

For Croatia, the decision represents the second major step the country has taken this year toward European integration — it was already given the green light in July to join the euro currency in 2023. With Croatia’s admission, the Schengen zone will soon include 23 EU countries, as well as a handful of non-EU countries like Switzerland and Iceland.