“Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia are ready to enter the Schengen area. » On Wednesday 16 November, Ylva Johansson, Commissioner for Home Affairs, reiterated the European Commission’s request to immediately grant the three countries the right to join the free movement area, where border controls no longer exist, in principle, organized.
“The wait was too long. They are ready and the European Union [UE] is ready to welcome them”, insisted the Swedish commissioner. Romania and Bulgaria have now been waiting for eleven years to be able to enter this zone bringing together 26 countries – 22 EU Member States, and four non-members, including Switzerland and Norway – and which allows more than 420 million inhabitants to travel without taking out their passport on most of the continent. The candidacy of Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013, was positively evaluated by the States of the Schengen area in December 2021, but the country is still awaiting its formal welcome.
This request from the Commission comes three weeks before the next Council of Interior Ministers, which must decide whether to expand the Schengen area from January 2023. Like the Parliament, which multiplies the resolutions in favor of the enlargement of Schengen , the Commission wishes to complete “one of the great successes of the Union”as Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, recalled in Prague at the end of August.
A decision to be taken unanimously
Still, it is still necessary to convince the twenty-two members of the EU and Schengen, the decision being taken unanimously. Politically, such a decision, when the migration issue is back in force in the public debate, is sensitive. The absence of borders also facilitates the movement of migrants. After two years of pandemic, which had seen the number of arrivals of asylum seekers drop, flows have started to rise sharply on the continent since the start of the year, via several channels. The Mediterranean route, of course, which gave rise to bitter exchanges between Italy and France about the docking of theOcean-Vikingbut also the Western Balkan route.
On this route, many countries, Austria and Hungary in the lead, have already put in place internal controls, which contradict the Schengen letter, to curb the passage of these people. From now on, Slovenia is talking about such an appeal if the Schengen area welcomes Croatia, announced, Monday, November 14, Tanja Fajon, the Slovenian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
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