On Wednesday 12 July, MEPs adopted a new resolution on the enlargement of the Schengen area to include Romania and Bulgaria, this time initiated by the European Parliament Committee on Petitions (see EUROPE 13210/19).
The text, adopted by 526 votes to 57 with 42 abstentions, again calls on the Member States to integrate these two countries by the end of the year.
The European Parliament “deeply deplores the outcome of the EU Council’s deliberations of 8 December 2022 (see EUROPE 13080/1) as a result of which Romania and Bulgaria were refused membership of the Schengen area without any legal justification linked to the accession criteria having been presented”, this outcome having “been motivated by national political campaigns rather than by the accession criteria themselves”.
The European Parliament also notes “with severe concern that this outcome has made Romanian and Bulgarian citizens feel discriminated against and invites the Commission to consider analysing possible breaches of the Treaty on European Union”.
“The health of drivers, customs officers and people living near border crossings” is also “threatened by the increase in pollution caused by the thousands of vehicles waiting to cross the border every day”, says the European Parliament, with 46,000 tonnes of CO2 emitted every year.
Link to the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/812 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)