ZAGREB, October 26, 2019 - Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Friday he expected Slovenia to make a "wise decision" and support Croatia's Schengen entry which, he added, was also in the interest of Slovenia's authorities because it meant the EU's external border would move and become Croatia's responsibility.

"Slovenia will certainly act wisely and intelligently," he told reporters in Split in the wake of messages from Slovenia after the European Commission assessed that Croatia met the technical conditions to join the Schengen area of free travel.

He said Croatia met a score of difficult conditions to deserve that assessment, adding that Slovenia could benefit the most as protecting the EU's external border was its responsibility now. "Croatia's Schengen entry will help Slovenians the most," he said, adding that he was sure the majority of Slovenians thought the same.

Asked if during its Council of the EU presidency in the first half of 2020 Croatia would again raise the issue of enlargement to southeast Europe despite opposition from some member states, Grlić Radman said it would, but noted that it was a process which primarily depended on meeting the requirements.

"We regret the decision of some countries which didn't support launching the accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania because we strongly pushed for launching the negotiation process," he said, adding that he hoped the topic would be on the agenda of an EU summit in Zagreb next year and that some policy chapters in the accession negotiations with aspirants Serbia and Montenegro would be closed by then.

More news about Croatia and the Schengen area can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 23, 2019 - Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said on Tuesday the European Commission's decision that Croatia met the technical conditions to join the Schengen Area was political, and insisted that Croatia implement the arbitration ruling on its border dispute with Slovenia.

"We regret that the European Commission decided on such an important matter, the assessment of Croatia's preparedness to join Schengen, just before the end of its term and that it adopted a political decision," Šarec said, according to a press release from his office.

"We expect Croatia to meet all the conditions for joining Schengen, technical and legal ones, including respect for the rule of law," he said, alluding to what Slovenian authorities consider respect for the rule of law, including the implementation of the border arbitration ruling.

Croatia does not recognise the ruling, maintaining that Slovenia irrevocably compromised the arbitration procedure.

Croatian members of the European Parliament Tonino Picula and Karlo Ressler on Tuesday welcomed the European Commission's green light for Croatia to join Schengen, while Slovenian MEP Tanja Fajon said it was an "unacceptable decision" by the outgoing Juncker Commission.

"That's good news for the Schengen Area which found itself over the past seven, eight years under attack of various circumstances which have weakened its purpose, which is to ensure free movement for European citizens and encourage more European cooperation and commitment to the European project," Picula (Social Democratic Party) told Croatian reporters in Strasbourg.

"The Commission has shown on Croatia's example that Schengen is one of the biggest European integration achievements," he said. He does not believe the political decision on Croatia's Schengen accession will be made soon and notes that "Croatia will have to keep working."

Fajon was disappointed by the Commission's decision. "We would very much like to see Croatia join Schengen, but only after it has met all the conditions. It seems that's not the reality. Reports by nongovernmental organisations reveal what happens on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina," she told Croatian and Slovenian reporters.

"This is an unacceptable decision by (Commission President) Jean-Claude Juncker," she added.

More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 22, 2019 - The European Commission assessed on Tuesday that Croatia met the conditions for joining the Schengen Area and asked the Council of the EU to include Croatia in the area without internal border controls.

"The European Commission considers that, based on the results of the Schengen evaluation process initiated in 2016, Croatia has taken the measures needed to ensure that the necessary conditions for the full application of the Schengen rules and standards are met," a press release said.

"Croatia will need to continue working on the implementation of all ongoing actions, in particular its management of the external borders, to ensure that these conditions continue to be met. The Commission also today confirms that Croatia continues to fulfil the commitments, linked to the Schengen rules, that it undertook in the accession negotiations," the press release said.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: "I commend Croatia for its efforts and perseverance to meet all the necessary conditions to join Schengen... This is why I trust that Member States will take the right steps for Croatia to become a full Schengen member soon."

Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said: "Schengen is one of the greatest and most tangible achievements of European integration. But its strength very much depends on its inclusiveness - now that Croatia has taken the measures to ensure that the necessary conditions are met, we must recognise this. Once it becomes a full member, it will contribute to further strengthening the area and ensure that the EU's external borders are better protected."

In order to join Schengen, a country must prove that it can assume responsibility for controlling the EU's external borders on behalf of the other member states of the area and issue short sojourn visas, efficiently cooperate with the security authorities of the member states, and apply the Schengen rules such as control of external land, sea and air borders (airports), issuing of visas, police cooperation, protection of personal data, and the need to connect to and use the Schengen Information System and the Visa Information System.

Regular evaluations are conducted in Schengen member states to check if the Schengen rules are applied correctly.

The Commission's evaluation on technical preparedness is not enough for joining but it is a prerequisite for the member states to make a political decision on the accession.

Bulgaria and Romania, for instance, have had a positive evaluation since 2011 but have still not joined Schengen because there is no consensus among the member states.

Slovenia has made it clear that it is going to block Croatia's accession to the Schengen Area due to Ljubljana's dissatisfaction with the unresolved border dispute with its eastern neighbour.

Currently, the Schengen Area includes 26 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and other types of border control at their mutual borders. Of those 26 members, 22 are part of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

The non-EU members covered by this passport-free area are Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The six EU member states not included in the Schengen Area are Ireland and United Kingdom, which still maintain opt-outs, and Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Cyprus, which are required to and are seeking to join soon.

Three European microstates that are not members of the European Union but which are enclaves or semi-enclave within an EU member state - Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City - are de facto part of the Schengen Area.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday the European Commission's decision that Croatia met the conditions to join the Schengen Area was another big European success for Croatia, but did not say when he expected Croatia to join.

"This is an important day and yet another big European success for Croatia," he told reporters. "In the technical sense, today we received objective verification, by the only institution in charge, that we are prepared."

Asked when Croatia would join, Plenković said he "wouldn't speculate on a precise date" but that "it's not realistic" that Croatia will join during its EU presidency in the first half of 2020.

As for Slovenia's possible blockade of Croatia's accession, he said the border dispute with Slovenia was "bilateral in nature."

"We will try to separate those bilateral topics from this one because this is a topic we should resolve with Slovenia in a different way, through dialogue and by looking for a solution with which both sides will be satisfied."

He said it was a success that Croatia did not have an additional monitoring mechanism for joining Schengen such as Romania and Bulgaria had.

More news about Croatia and the Schengen Area can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 21, 2019 - European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said on Monday that the Commission would adopt a report on Croatia's compliance with the Schengen Area requirements on Tuesday.

Tomorrow the College of Commissioners will evaluate Croatia's progress in meeting the criteria required for joining the Schengen Area, she said after the chiefs-of-staff of all commissioners defined the agenda of Tuesday's Commission meeting in Strasbourg.

Numerous prerequisites must be met to join the passport-free travel area, including taking responsibility for controlling the EU's external borders, issuing visas on behalf of the area's other member states, and establishing efficient cooperation with the security authorities of the member states.

A country hoping to join must be capable of fully enforcing the Borders Code, which includes controlling the borders on land, at sea and in airports, issuing visas, police cooperation and personal data protection. The country must also be entered into the Schengen Information System.

The Commission carries out an evaluation before a country enters the Area, as well as occasionally after accession to see if the Schengen laws are being enforced. The Commission's evaluation on technical preparedness is not enough for joining but it is a prerequisite for the member states to make a political decision on the accession.

Bulgaria and Romania, for instance, have had a positive evaluation since 2011 but have still not joined Schengen because there is no consensus among the member states.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in late September that it was difficult to predict when Croatia would join Schengen but that the goal was to receive a positive evaluation by the Commission this year that Croatia had met all the criteria.

More on Croatia and the Schengen Area can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 19, 2019 - Slovenian members of the European Parliament have sent an open letter to current and new EU leaders opposing Croatia's accession to the Schengen area of passport-free travel, the Večernji List daily reported on Saturday.

The daily says the letter is the newest means of pressure ahead of the European Commission's decision on Croatia's compliance with all technical conditions for accession to the Schengen Area, which is expected on October 22.

Slovenian MEPs express reservations about Croatia's technical and legal capacity to protect the Schengen Area which is why they seek a delay of the decision and ask that the issue be dealt with by the new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen.

The letter was signed by six Slovenian MEPs, two each from the European People's Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats and the Renew Europe group. Two representatives of Janez Janša's SDS party, also a member of the EPP, refused to sign the letter.

Croatia's accession to the Schengen area is a common interest because we are aware of all its benefits, both for Slovenia and the EU, and at the same time its accession should not be a security threat to the EU, the Slovenian MEPs say in their letter but then describe what they consider problematic about it.

"In our opinion, there are very serious reservations regarding Croatia's technical and legal capacity to protect the Schengen Area as well as its compliance with EU legal standards, notably regarding respect for and implementation of international agreements and judgements," the Slovenian MEPs say in an indirect reference to the two countries' border dispute and failed international arbitration on it which Croatia refuses to comply with, says Večernji List.

More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 12, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Friday she did not consider the second postponement of a decision by the European Commission (EC) on Croatia's technical preparedness to join the Schengen Area to be a "big delay" and recalled that the Union was now burdened with Brexit.

The EC's decision on Croatia's technical preparedness to join the Schengen Area is no longer on the agenda of a meeting of the College of Commissioners scheduled for October 16 and has been moved to the meeting on October 22.

"This isn't a big delay," Grabar-Kitarović told reporters in Athens, adding that perhaps this was due to technical reasons.

In a statement to the press after attending a meeting of the Arraiolos Group focusing on migration and the economic crisis, she expressed hope that "there won't be any political obstruction," and reiterated that she had told her European counterparts that their territory too was being protected on the Croatian border.

The president did not say who she was referring to when she mentioned "obstruction," however neighbouring Slovenia has said on several occasions that Croatia's accession to the Schengen Area might be conditional on it accepting the arbitration ruling on the border dispute with Slovenia.

The president stated that Croatia was concerned about the increasing number of migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina and refugee camps being set up along the EU border and the poor conditions in them despite the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina has received financial donations from some EU member states to accommodate the migrants.

EU enlargement to Southeast Europe "is the only guarantee of lasting stability and security," she said.

The "slow" focusing of Brussels on the countries in Southeast Europe aspiring for EU accession - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia is creating a vacuum which then is being "filled by some third parties that are not necessarily well-meaning, and that poses a "security threat on the very borders of the EU," she said.

Messages from Brussels "have to be a lot clearer" and followed up with "concrete acts," Grabar-Kitarović told reporters. Otherwise people in those countries will turn to other options, she said without elaborating.

During his recent visit to Montenegro and North Macedonia, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned of growing Russian and Chinese influence.

With reference to Turkey, Grabar-Kitarović recalled that in January she had told her Turkish counterpart that Croatia supported Turkey's pathway to the EU and that it was "exceptionally important to keep Turkey on the European pathway."

She believes that neither side should be blackmailing the other and that Brussels had to meet its financial obligations toward Turkey, which has accommodated almost three million refugees from Syria.

"If you let the migrants through, the first victims will be your neighbours in the Balkans," countries in southeast Europe, she said.

More news about Croatia and the Schengen Area can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 9, 2019 - EU Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Tuesday he would do his utmost so that by the end of this month Croatia was given the assessment that it was ready to join the Schengen Area because it deserved it.

Asked by reporters in Luxembourg if the Commission would confirm at its meeting next week that Croatia was ready for Schengen, he said he was doing his best to have that assessment by the end of this Commission's term because Croatia deserved it and because he had vowed it at his hearing five years ago.

On one condition, naturally, that Croatia meets the benchmarks, Avramopoulos said. Asked if Croatia met all the criteria, he added that they were in the final stretch.

On September 26, after meeting Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Croatia should become a full Schengen member and that the Commission was finalising its assessment.

A positive assessment from the Commission is not enough for joining as the assessment is only about technical readiness. The final decision is made by all member states.

More news about Croatia and its attempts to enter Schengen can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 27, 2019 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that if Slovenia decided to block Croatia's Schengen entry, it would not be able to do so indefinitely.

"They can't block indefinitely. We are a member state, we have enough mechanisms. That's all I'll say," he told Croatian reporters in Brussels who asked him if Slovenia could stop Croatia's Schengen Area accession for a long time.

Plenković is on a three-day visit to Brussels. Today he met European Commission Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis and Finnish PM Annti Rinne, whose country is the current Council of the EU chair.

Plenković said he was pleased with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's guarantee that next month Croatia would receive a positive assessment on the meeting of the Schengen entry criteria, to be followed by a political debate at the Council of the EU. All member states must approve the accession.

Plenković said it was not realistic to expect a decision to that effect during Croatia's EU presidency in the first half of 2020.

"We believe we have met the criteria. Now there will be a political debate, but not during our presidency. The Schengen entry criteria are objective, we have met them, and if there are some political issues, we will deal with them at the Council."

Plenković said he did not expect problems from the member states which now were against Bulgaria and Romania entering Schengen. Both have had a positive assessment of their compliance with the criteria since 2011.

Plenković said that he and Dombrovskis talked about the implementation of Croatia's euro action plan and preparations for joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism II.

"The Commission is following in detail what we are doing, and we are doing it within the deadlines we have set, therefore the process if going well," he said, adding that a Commission delegation collecting data as part of the European Semester would visit Zagreb in October.

"I talked about those topics with Vice-President Dombrovskis and the Commission has a positive view of our reform efforts," Plenković said.

More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 27, 2019 - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday that Croatia should become a full Schengen member and that the Commission was finalising its assessment.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković met Juncker in Brussels and they talked about Croatia's Schengen entry, a law on the development of the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar, Croatia's preparations for chairing the Council of the EU next year, and the EU budget for the next seven years.

The Commission said after the meeting that Juncker reiterated the Commission's position that Croatia should become a full Schengen member and that the Commission was finalising its assessment.

In mid-October, the Commission should adopt a report on Croatia's compliance with the Schengen entry criteria. A positive assessment from the Commission is not enough for joining as the assessment is only about technical readiness. The final decision is made by all member states.

The Commission also said that Juncker and Plenković also talked about possible support measures for Vukovar. Both officials expressed the wish that negotiations on the next EU budget be concluded swiftly, and Juncker thanked Croatia for its constructive role in the negotiations, the press release said.

If the negotiations on the multiannual financial framework are not concluded by the end of this year, Croatia will have to work on this issue as it chairs the Council of the EU in the first half of 2020.

Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said on Thursday he was unhappy with the outgoing European Commission's decision to put on the agenda the question of whether Croatia met the technical requirements for joining the Schengen Area, to which Slovenia has reservations.

"Slovenia knows how challenging it is to have the external Schengen border, and I'm worried because Croatia hasn't resolved its border issue with practically any state. How can we then bypass these questions and automatically determine that someone is adequate to join Schengen?" he told Slovenian reporters covering his visit to New York.

Šarec said he feared the Commission might adopt a "political decision" to the effect that Croatia met the Schengen requirements although, he added, they were very strict and demanding and Croatia still had not met them.

"We are primarily concerned about security and it seems flippant to me to put this issue on the agenda just before the end of the Commission's term."

Croatian PM Andrej Plenković said earlier today he expected the Commission, whose term ends on November 1, to recommend that Croatia met the requirements for joining the Schengen Area.

The Commission should have the item on its agenda in mid-October. Its president Jean-Claude Juncker said in Zagreb in June the Commission would give a positive recommendation by the end of its term.

Šarec said that if the Commission made a "political" decision and gave Croatia the green light to enter Schengen, Slovenia too would act "politically."

Asked if Slovenia would veto Croatia's Schengen membership because of their border arbitration dispute, he would not give a direct answer. "We will act in the proper way and in Slovenia's interest, not just Slovenia's but also in the interest of the rule of law."

He reiterated that Slovenia's stance on the border arbitration ruling was clear and familiar. "The court delivered the ruling and we are willing to keep waiting. The law is on our side and it's time European institutions understood this too."

Slovenian Foreign Minister Miro Cerar recently said Slovenia could not let Croatia join Schengen before it implemented the border arbitration ruling.

More news about Croatia and the Schengen area can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 26, 2019 - Slovenian Foreign Minister Miro Cerar said during the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday that Slovenia was in favour of expansion of the Schengen area of passport-free travel but only if Croatia respected the rule of law, Slovenian media reported.

In a comment on Croatian media reports that the European Commission would next month confirm that Croatia had met technical conditions for accession to the Schengen area, which outgoing EC President Jean-Claude Juncker had allegedly promised Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Cerar told reporters in New York that Slovenia supported the expansion of the Schengen area in principle but that the rule of law "is one of the key standards that must be respected by countries that are about to join the Schengen area", Slovenian Television said.

Alluding to an arbitration ruling on the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute, which Croatia does not recognise because of Slovenia's having compromised the arbitration proceedings, Cerar said that respect for the rule of law also means "respect for and implementation of international agreements and decisions of international courts," the Slovenian media quoted sources at the Slovenian Foreign Ministry as saying.

The Slovenian commercial POP TV station claimed that the Croatian government had expected the outgoing European Commission, led by Juncker, to have the issue of compliance with technical conditions for accession to the Schengen area on its agenda already on October 2, but that this was opposed by the Slovenian member of the outgoing Commission, Violeta Bulc, and reportedly also by EC Vice-President Frans Timmermans.

More news about the Croatia-Slovenia border issue can be found in the Politics section.