Stepmother Europe: refused access to the Schengen area to Romania and Bulgaria
Croatia received the green light to join the Schengen free movement zone in January, a long overdue decision that leaves Bulgaria and Romania out.
The decision was taken on 8 December during a meeting in Brussels of the interior and justice ministers of EU and Schengen states and was greeted with enthusiasm by Croatia, but with disappointment by Bulgaria and Romania.
“The Schengen area is growing for the first time in more than a decade,” tweeted the Czech Republic, which holds the EU's rotating presidency. “Ministers approved Croatia's accession as of 1 January 2023!”. The Croatian delegation to the EU also responded enthusiastically.
“Last step completed! Council decision adopted — It is now formally confirmed that #Croatia joins the #Schengen area effective January 1, 2023,” he said on Twitter.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic wrote on Facebook that, with the opening of the borders, Croatia "has achieved the strategic objectives of the government" and that "the citizens and the economy will have the greatest benefits".
Deputy Prime Minister Davor Bozinovic said Croatia had fulfilled all the conditions in a long and demanding process. "With Croatia in Schengen, everyone benefits: the citizens, the economy, Croatia and the EU," he said.
Twenty-six countries – 22 EU states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – are currently part of the Schengen area.
Schengen. Croatia will become the 27th country and the first to join since, in 2011, the area was enlarged with the entry of Liechtenstein.
The EU has declared Schengen to be the largest free trade area in the world. Inside there are 1.25 billion trips a year and 3.5 million border crossings a day.
The move required the unanimous support of the 27 EU members. Croatia's bid has received no major opposition, while Romania and Bulgaria's accession has been opposed by Austria and the Netherlands, who have cited corruption and migration concerns as more people cross the border. unauthorized borders through the Balkan region.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner noted that more than 100,000 people have entered Austria without authorization this year. “It's wrong for a system that doesn't work well in many places to be expanded at this point,” he said.
Across the bloc, 281,000 irregular entries were registered in the first 10 months of 2022, a 77 per cent increase on the previous year and the highest since 2016, Frontex, the EU's border police, said last month.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged Austria to change its mind, especially at a time when it is "important for Europe to get closer," she said in a statement.
The Netherlands also opposed granting access. In October, the Dutch Parliament adopted a resolution stating the need for further analysis of the functioning of the rule of law and the extent of corruption and organized crime in Bulgaria and Romania.
Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said he was disappointed and would reapply.
"We regret and honestly do not understand the inflexible stance taken by Austria," he said.
Honor Keleman, Romanian deputy prime minister, instead said he was incredulous of the result and vowed to "continue to fight" to enter Schengen "without giving in to Austria's miserable blackmail," he wrote on Facebook. Bulgaria will also try again, its foreign minister said.
Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev was cautiously optimistic, saying he believed some common ground could be found to overcome the objections of Austria and perhaps the Netherlands. “Austria has already signaled that there are mechanisms and compromises that it is ready to accept. So, the talks will continue,” he told reporters.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said Romania and Bulgaria deserve to be full members of Schengen and to have access to free movement. Meanwhile, however, the countries have decided otherwise.
In the end, the European Union is such only in words. Then the old school envy wins. Brothers we don't know, knives for sure.
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The article Europe stepmother: refused access to the Schengen area to Romania and Bulgaria comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/europa-matrigna-rifiutato-laccesso-allarea-schengen-a-romania-e-bulgaria/ on Fri, 09 Dec 2022 20:17:17 +0000.