End of checks! Schengen Area expands to two new countries
On Easter Sunday, Romania and Bulgaria entered the Schengen area . This means that personal controls at internal air and sea borders, i.e. at airports and seaports, will initially be eliminated. EU countries had already agreed on this step at the end of December. A decision on lifting land border controls will be made at a later date.
The admission of the two EU countries, Romania and Bulgaria , to the Schengen area had already failed, mainly due to resistance from Austria. The Vienna government justified the refusal by saying that too many unregistered migrants were arriving from these two countries, following the Eastern European route. The Netherlands also expressed concern due to doubts about the fight against corruption.
In early December 2023, the Austrian government had offered that the Schengen borders could be eliminated for air traffic with Bulgaria and Romania if Brussels in return strengthened the EU's external borders through stricter border controls. New members can only be accepted unanimously. Romania and Bulgaria had been waiting for the decision since 2011, a long, very long wait.
Romania and Bulgaria had already joined the EU in 2007. Until September the judiciary and the rule of law were under special surveillance by the European Commission due to rampant corruption and organized crime. Due to these problems, unanimity was not achieved among the Heads of State and Government regarding accession for a long time. In mid-September the authority officially ended the special surveillance and said that Romania and Bulgaria were ready for membership.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the decision as a historic moment. “This is an important step forward for both countries and for the Schengen area as a whole. (…) Thanks to you, the Schengen area will become even stronger for the benefit of all EU citizens,” we read in a statement.
The Schengen area is intended to guarantee the free movement of people in Europe. It now includes 25 of the 27 EU member states, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. only Cyprus and Ireland remain outside Schengen, and, except for the islands, we are not talking about it for now.
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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/fine-dei-controlli-area-schenghen-si-allarga-a-due-nuovi-paesi/ on Sun, 31 Mar 2024 09:00:41 +0000.