EU Commission Urges the Accession of Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania Into Schengen Zone
The Commission’s comments came through the State of Schengen Report of this year, while this is the first time that the Commission is presenting such a report, AtoZSerwisPlus.ro reports.
The statement says that the three Balkan countries mentioned above have fulfilled all the conditions in order to become part of the passport-free zone. In addition, it emphasized that the same will apply to Cyprus once it has successfully completed the Schengen evaluation process.
The Commission of the European Union has continuously required the accession of Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania into the Schengen Zone; however, such a process has not been finalized yet.
Last year, the Council of the EU agreed that Croatia has met all the requirements in order to become the newest member of Schengen; however, the Balkan country is still waiting for such a process to be finished.
In this regard, the European Union’s Home Affairs Commissioner, Ylva Johansson, stressed that the Schengen Zone should be completed by allowing Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania to take their place in the passport-free zone.
In June last year, Johansson said that “this summer inspires us to re-establish the freedom of movement completely and make Schengen prepared for the future so that our children may work, study and travel in the whole of Europe, anytime and anywhere they want,” still there has not been made any step forward in this regard.
The report also brought into light several other priorities resulting from the Schengen evaluations, which currently cover external border management, return, police cooperation, the Schengen Information system, as well as visa policies and data protection.
The findings are part of the European Commission’s initiative to reinforce the Schengen governance through an annual reporting exercise presenting the state of the Schengen Zone, identifying priorities for the year ahead and monitoring the progress made at the end of a given year.
According to the Vice President of the European Commission, Margaritas Schinas, the borderless area of Schengen has unified the European continent, and it is emblematic of the European way of life.
“Over the past year, we have taken decisive steps to further strengthen Schengen’s governance and rebuild trust in this crucial driver of our economies,” Schinas said, stressing that the report shows that commitment to ensure Schengen emerges stronger from the variety of challenges it has experienced.
