On 9 December, EU interior ministers unanimously adopted EU Council conclusions stating that Croatia has fulfilled all the conditions to join the Schengen area, and opening the door to a decision on the country’s access to the free movement area.
Slovenian Interior Minister, Aleš Hojs, welcomed the decision as the first step towards Schengen. “I believe that further steps will be taken soon”, he commented.
“The EU Council concluded that Croatia has fulfilled the necessary conditions to apply all parts of the Schengen acquis. The verification that the necessary conditions for the application of all parts of the Schengen acquis have been fulfilled by Croatia, is a precondition for the EU Council to take a subsequent decision that allows the lifting of internal border controls”, says the text. Unanimity will always be required.
Since its accession to the EU, Croatia has applied the Schengen acquis with the exception of the provisions relating to the lifting of internal border controls.
The Schengen evaluation of Croatia took place between 2016 and 2020. In October 2019, the European Commission found that Zagreb had taken the necessary measures to ensure the conditions necessary for the full application of the Schengen acquis. It closed the last action plan for the areas under assessment in February 2021.
Link to the conclusions: https://bit.ly/3oNa9Tz (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)