European interior ministers are to vote on Thursday, December 8, on the extension of the Schengen area. Croatia’s integration looks likely, but hurdles remain for Bulgaria and Romania amid rising migrant arrivals via the Balkan route.
The European Commission, like the Parliament, has long called for the three countries to be included in this vast zone, within which more than 400 million people can travel freely without internal border controls. One of the effects of membership would be to eliminate long vehicle queues at the borders of these countries and encourage tourism. Instead, Schengen member states must undertake strict control of the external borders of this free movement zone and commit to police cooperation in the fight against organized crime or terrorism.
Croatia (3.9 million inhabitants), a member of the EU since 2013 and which will join the euro zone next January, expects a positive response without any surprises. However, Romania (19 million inhabitants) and Bulgaria (6.5 million), which joined the EU in 2007 and which have been knocking on Schengen’s door for more than ten years, face the reluctance of some states. However, the unanimity of the 26 members of this area (22 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) is necessary.
Austria, which is facing an influx of asylum seekers, opposes the lifting of border controls with these two countries, which it believes will increase the arrival of migrants. The Netherlands has reservations about Bulgaria, questioning corruption in this country. However, the accession documents of the two former communist countries are connected by the same procedure.
Schengen expansion is back on the table as irregular arrivals at the EU’s external borders rise after falling during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Frontex, the increase is particularly marked along the Western Balkans route, where around 139,500 irregular entries into the EU have been detected since January. A number, however, that is a far cry from the 764,000 arrivals in 2015 at the time of the refugee crisis.
“Each member state must do its part”
But the situation has especially forced Austria and the Czech Republic to restore border controls. And it has prompted the European Commission to present an action plan to try to reduce inflows through this route, as it recently did for the central Mediterranean route. Brussels proposes, among other things, to deploy the European agency Frontex not only on the borders of the EU with the Western Balkans, but also between these countries.
The Commission also calls on those states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) whose citizens do not need a visa to travel to the EU to comply with the Union’s visa policy. Serbia, accused of fueling a surge in migrant arrivals in the EU, has begun to do so by suspending visa exemptions for Tunisians and Burundians.
Like Austria, Belgium says it has been overwhelmed by the influx of asylum seekers, many of whom are already registered in another EU member state or are in the process of being granted asylum there. Belgium’s Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, held a meeting with several of her European colleagues on Wednesday, demanding: “correct application” The Dublin Regulation, which stipulates that a migrant’s country of arrival in the EU governs his or her asylum application. “Each member state must do its part so that there is real solidarity”, he said. Belgium has returned 745 asylum seekers to responsible member states this year, but complains that many countries are ignoring them. “Restore Requests”.
Source: Le Figaro
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