On Thursday 8 December, the home affairs ministers of the EU Member States gave the green light to the enlargement of the Schengen area to include Croatia, but dampened the hopes of Bulgaria and Romania, which will have to wait.
Croatia, whose application for accession to the Schengen area was finalised in 2021, will therefore join the area from 1 January with a ‘full’ opening of its land and sea borders. Checks at internal air border will be abolished from 26 March 2023.
From 1 January 2023, Croatia will also issue Schengen visas and will be able to fully use the Schengen Information System.
But the fate of Romania and Bulgaria, which were deemed eligible to join Schengen in 2011, remains uncertain, with no timetable set on Thursday.
For the Czech Minister of the Interior, Vít Rakušan, who sincerely hoped to achieve a positive decision from his counterparts on the three countries, this result is obviously disappointing.
While he congratulated Croatia, which he says fully deserves this accession, “in my view, Bulgaria and Romania are also ready” to join Schengen. “Their time will come soon”, the minister added, convinced that the Swedish Presidency will also make this a priority.
The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, did not hide her disappointment either. “You deserve to be full members of Schengen”, she expressed to Romanian and Bulgarian citizens, promising also to do everything possible to ensure that both countries could join Schengen “during this mandate”.
Two votes were held early Thursday afternoon; Croatia achieved unanimity, but Romania and Bulgaria did not, as they were bound by a single decision.
In terms of support, 26 countries supported Romania’s accession, with the exception of Austria, and 25 supported Bulgaria, with Austria, as well as the Netherlands, opposing its accession.
In addition, the Czech Presidency tried again on Thursday morning to propose compromises, including the one proposed the day before aiming to integrate Romania and to organise a timetable for Bulgaria, which Bulgaria itself reportedly rejected, according to some sources.
Austria, which was opposed to Romania and Bulgaria in particular because of the migration flows from Bulgaria along the Western Balkans route, did not want to change its position. The Netherlands continued to request a new report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) on risks related to corruption, for example, and on the general situation regarding rule of law in the country. The Hague also wants to see a stable government in Bulgaria.
However, the Netherlands was prepared to support Romania, which would have meant separating the decision from that for Bulgaria, although the Dutch government did not see any particular difficulties in establishing a Schengen border between Romania and Bulgaria.
But the Presidency wanted to “force the issue” by triggering a vote on the joint decision, a diplomatic source scoffed.
According to another source, the Presidency instead “tried everything to change the positions, in vain”, with a “certain bitterness” being perceptible in the room.
Asked again about the various reasons for the blockages, Ms Johansson regretted the decision also because it will not strengthen the Schengen area, as several countries, such as France, said on Thursday that the free movement area would be better equipped with more countries that could secure the external borders.
The Commissioner also reiterated in The Hague that the Commission no longer intends to produce new ‘CVM’ reports, as the process has been completed since 2019.
“The Commission now publishes its annual reports on the rule of law for all Member States” and a new edition will appear next year.
Barring any surprises, the issue is not expected to come up next week among the EU leaders either. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)