The Schengen area, the largest movement zone without border controls in the world, should soon expand to include at least one new member, possibly three. So far, the area consists of 22 EU member states and four non-EU countries. Now three more EU members are knocking on Schengen’s door – Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania, says the joint text of news agencies AFP, AGERPRES, BTA, dpa, FENA, HINA and STA.

Of the 27 EU Member States, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus and Ireland are currently not part of the Schengen area. On the other hand, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which are not members of the EU, are included. The Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU has indicated that it wants Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania to join the Schengen area together without border controls. She therefore placed the subject on her agenda. It is expected that the Council of the EU will decide on this on 9 December. The accession of new countries to Schengen requires a unanimous decision.

The youngest member of the EU, Croatia, which joined in 2013, is about to adopt the euro. Croatia is on the right track to become a member of the Schengen area, given that so far there has been no announcement, at least no public announcement, of a vetoing Schengen member. It therefore seems that Croatia is on track to join the area without internal border controls from the beginning of next year.

Romania and Bulgaria have been waiting since 2011. The Council of the EU and the European Parliament confirmed in June 2011 that Bulgaria and Romania fulfill all the criteria for Schengen membership. However, in September of the same year, the Netherlands and Finland vetoed the accession of these countries, citing insufficient measures against corruption and organized crime as the reason. On October 18, 2022 – for the fourth time since 2018 – the European Parliament called on the member states of the Council of the EU to integrate Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area without delay.

Dutch blockade of Romania and Bulgaria

However, the Netherlands continue to doubt the preparedness of Bulgaria and Romania. In October 2022, the Dutch Parliament adopted a resolution to oppose the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. It stresses the need for a more in-depth analysis of the functioning of the rule of law and considers it necessary to verify whether and to what extent corruption and organized crime have been reduced in these two countries.

“If these problems are not resolved in a Schengen state, this can cause serious problems in the absence of border controls and therefore represents a security risk for the Netherlands and the entire Schengen area” , indicates the resolution.

“The elections in the Netherlands take place in the spring. It is a difficult subject, but the Netherlands is already isolated within the Council. Bulgaria and Romania are being held hostage by Dutch domestic politics, and that won’t last long,” Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said when commenting on the Dutch resolution.

Due to widespread corruption, judicial authorities in Romania and Bulgaria have come under special scrutiny from the European Commission since joining the bloc in 2007. The European Parliament has called the current arrangements detrimental to the European single market. “Keeping controls at internal borders is discriminatory and has a serious impact on the lives of mobile workers and citizens,” MEPs said.

Romania still believes in joining Schengen

Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu believes there is still room for political, diplomatic and technical measures. “I am convinced that the Dutch side is evaluating absolutely all options and variants,” Aurescu said.

According to MEP Victor Negrescu, there are three potential scenarios regarding Romania’s accession to Schengen. The first scenario would be a positive vote on Romania’s accession to the Schengen area by the Justice and Home Affairs Council on December 9. In this case, the Netherlands, if it remained the last country without a clear position, would vote in favor of membership. , but with the imposition of conditions, perhaps supported by other European countries. They could ask the European Commission to develop a special monitoring mechanism, under which some of the Schengen-specific rights could be suspended if certain provisions were breached.

In the second scenario, the vote would be postponed to an extraordinary session of the Council later this year, pending the conclusions of the latest report of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) and the opinion of the Venice Commission on the laws of justice. The Commission established the CVM as a transitional measure to help Romania fill justice gaps and fight corruption. In this case, Romania’s entry into the Schengen area would still be subject to criteria that have nothing to do with the Schengen acquis. The decoupling of the decision on Bulgaria from that on Romania is also being assessed, says the Romanian MEP.

In the third scenario, the vote on the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area could be postponed until after the elections in the Netherlands in March 2023.

Croatia hopes to join Schengen in 2023

With regard to Croatia, the Council of the European Union launched the decision-making process on the country’s admission to the Schengen area last June, requesting the opinion of the European Parliament. Although this opinion does not bind the Council, it is a necessary procedural step and it also sends a political message. The Council of the EU has proposed to abolish border controls of Croatia with Schengen countries on land and sea from January 1, 2023. Checks at airports are to follow from March 26, 2023.

During the November 10 plenary session, the European Parliament voted in favor of Croatia’s entry into Schengen. It was the penultimate step towards the final decision, which is expected on December 9 at the meeting of member states’ interior ministers.

Slovenia and Croatia – three decades of border conflict

Slovenia supports Croatia’s accession to the Schengen area. However, the fate of the 2017 border arbitration agreement is uncertain. This agreement determined the course of the land and sea border after the two countries had not found a solution for more than two decades.

Croatia now insists that it is no longer a party to the arbitration since there were procedural irregularities perpetrated by Slovenia. Ljubljana, on the other hand, insists that the arbitration award is the final judgment on the course of the border.

Slovenian politicians have often discussed more or less openly the possibility of making Croatia’s accession to the Schengen area conditional on the implementation of the border arbitration award. In recent weeks there have been rumors that the Slovenian government is drafting a unilateral statement that, by joining the Schengen area, Croatia accepts the arbitration award.

“We are talking about adopting a declaration, but this declaration will be nothing but a renewed commitment to implement the arbitral award,” Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said last week. Fajon, who expects a positive political decision regarding Croatia’s accession to the Schengen area by EU interior ministers, also announced that the Slovenian government will soon adopt a draft position which will be then put to the vote of parliament in Ljubljana.

Non-EU Bosnia and Herzegovina worries about ‘reinforced’ border

Croatia’s accession to Schengen is a particular challenge for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which shares almost a thousand kilometers of border with Croatia. There are strong economic, cultural and family ties between the two countries. BiH fears that the Schengen rules will “strengthen” the border between the two neighboring countries.

Traders expect problems with the speed of movement of goods across the border with Croatia. There are nine border checkpoints between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and 20 permanent crossing points for cross-border traffic. Of the nine checkpoints, only two have special status to carry out phytosanitary checks. These are used to export fruits, vegetables and all other goods that require this type of inspection.

The BiH Chamber of Foreign Trade has repeatedly warned that the implementation of Schengen inspection standards could create queues and delays for trucks transporting goods exported from BiH. They call for better adaptation to new circumstances when crossing borders.

Nevertheless, the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina states that there should be no significant changes for citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina entering Croatia. What they see as a benefit of Croatia joining Schengen is better surveillance of a common border that has been plagued by the migrant crisis.

“Croatia’s accession to Schengen would guarantee compliance with all the criteria and therefore a very high level of security at the country’s external borders. This is particularly important in the prevention of all forms of cross-border crime and illegal crossings in the context of the current migrant crisis,” the border police of Bosnia and Herzegovina told FENA.

Supported by the EU, Croatia has invested in border protection. The country’s borders are guarded by 6,500 police officers. Non-governmental organizations and media have repeatedly reported violent returns and inhumane treatment of illegal migrants by Croatian authorities.

As a result, the country – in cooperation with civil society organizations – has launched independent monitoring of border police behavior towards migrants and asylum seekers. Such monitoring mechanisms, according to the Commission’s proposal for the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, should be in place in all Member States, it was stated in the joint text of the AFP news agencies, AGERPRES, BTA, dpa, FENA, HINA and STA.

The content of this article is based on news from agencies participating in the European Newsroom (ENR), a joint project of 18 European news agencies, among which the Federal News Agency (FENA) is the only agency in Bosnia and Herzegovina .