6 hours agoEC confirms: Croatia Ready for Schengen
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)The European Commission estimated today that Croatia meets the criteria needed for entry into the Schengen area and called on the EU Council to include Croatia in an area without internal border controls. The European Commission considers, given the results of the Schengen assessment process launched in 2016, that Croatia received [...]
The European Commission considers, given the results of the Schengen assessment process launched in 2016, that Croatia has taken the necessary measures to ensure the necessary conditions for full implementation of Schengen rules and that standards have been met,” the Commission announced in a statement.
The Commission adds that Croatia “will have to continue implementing all current activities, particularly external border management, to ensure these conditions continue to be met”.
The “Commission also confirms today that Croatia continues to fulfil the commitments of Schengen rules it has made during the accession negotiations,” said in the statement.
Regular assessments are conducted in the Schengen area member states to verify whether they enforce Schengen rules.
The Commission's assessment of the technical readiness to enter Schengen is not enough, but it is precondition for member states to make a political decision on accession to the Schengen area, Croatian media broadcast.
Bulgaria and Romania have been positively assessed by the European Commission since 2011, but are still not part of the Schengen area, as there are no agreements from all member states.
The entry into Schengen itself, or when the political decision will be made, is difficult to predict for several reasons: the first is that for several years the EU has been trying to agree to a reform of the Dublin system, which is an issue of solidarity within the EU for migration and what the consensus still lacks.
The second is that the Schengen system will have to be strengthened, and the third is that ahead of Croatia in the Schengen waiting room is Bulgaria and Romania.
Moreover, Slovenia more or less openly announces it will block Croatia's entry, linking the issue with the unresolved border issue.
The Schengen zone is currently composed of 26 European countries (22 of which are EU member states: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.
Four places no- The EU is also part of Schengen: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
Currently, six EU member states exist outside Schengen. The United Kingdom never wanted to be a member of the area, and therefore the Republic of Ireland had to stay out, otherwise it would have to impose border controls with Northern Ireland, which is contrary to the 1998 peace treaty.
Cyprus, a internationally recognised government, does not control the entire territory, in the north of the island is the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Turkey.
Bulgaria and Romania have been invited by the European Commission since 2011, but there is still no political agreement to get them. The sixth is Croatia, which has just received a positive assessment from the European Commission.
The story of an area without control of internal borders began on June 14, 1985, when five member states: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed an agreement near Schengen, a small town in Luxembourg.
However, implementation of the agreement began only in March 1995, when border controls between signatory countries were abolished.
