The Czech Republic, which presides over the Council of the European Union, announced the decision-making schedule for the accession of three new countries to the Schengen zone at once – Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania. A decision should be made early next month, with two European meetings scheduled for November, and a final decision on December 1.
Local members of the European Parliament state that the Czech Republic has already voiced its “congratulations on the successful completion of control visits regarding Schengen conditions” in these countries. The calendar of the decision on the accession of Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia to the single European space is also presented. We would like to remind you that Bulgaria and Romania have fulfilled all the technical conditions since 2011, but the process has not yet been completed.
It is not a fact that everything will go smoothly even now. Thus, the legislators of the Netherlands presented a resolution that calls on the country’s government not to take irreversible steps regarding the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen. The reason is the need to “further investigate border control and reduce corruption crime in both of these Balkan countries.”
However, MEPs continue to call on EU countries to admit Bulgaria and Romania as soon as possible – preferably by the end of this year and to ensure “the abolition of checks on people at all internal borders for these two countries within the next year”.