December 8, 2022 - The key participants in today's EU Council meeting, where a decision was made on the expansion of the Schengen zone without borders, confirmed upon entering the meeting that they were sure that the decision on Croatia's entry would be adopted, regardless of the fact that the diplomatic battles over the second decision, regarding the expansion of Schengen to Bulgaria and Romania. 

As Večernji wrote during the meeting, their correspondent from Brussels, Tomislav Krasnec, reported with the latest information, saying that the meeting is still ongoing, and discussions were also being held in the corridors. The cases of Bulgaria and Romania were apparently the source debate when it looked like some complications have arisen. It seems that some countries tried to treat this issue as a package of three countries, and not as two separate decisions, and advocated that it be put to a vote as a package today. That would not have been a favourable situation for Croatia, which would have ended up a victim of such a political approach.

Not long after, 24Sata reported that today, at the meeting of the interior ministers of the EU member states, Croatia received unanimous support for entering the Schengen area, while there was no consensus for Bulgaria and Romania, according to diplomatic sources.

Croatia thus becomes the 27^th member of the Schengen area and in less than a month, from January 1, 2023, border controls will be abolished at land and sea border crossings, and in the spring, on March 26, 2023, at airports.

Bulgaria and Romania apparently did not receive support because there was a lack of consensus.

Plenković: Citizens and the economy will benefit the most

Hrvatska je dobila jednoglasnu podršku Vijeća za unutarnje poslove i pravosuđe - 1. siječnja 2023. postajemo članica #Schengen! U godini isporuke ostvarili smo strateške ciljeve @VladaRH, od kojih će najveću korist imati ?? građani i gospodarstvo!
✅ #Eurozone
✅ #Schengen pic.twitter.com/mPCGMpGZ1E

— Andrej Plenković (@AndrejPlenkovic) December 8, 2022

"Croatia received the unanimous support of the Council for Internal Affairs and Justice - on January 1, 2023, we will become a member of Schengen! In the year of delivery, we achieved the Government's strategic goals, from which citizens and the economy will benefit the most!" - Plenković wrote on Twitter after the official announcement that Croatia is becoming a Schengen member.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Politics section.

December 1, 2022 - The ambassadors of the EU member states discussed the expansion of the Schengen area and the proposal of Croatia entering Schengen. According to diplomatic sources, none objected to the proposal to admit Croatia to the zone without internal border controls.

As Index writes, the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper), which consists of ambassadors of the member states, discussed the expansion of the Schengen area to Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania as part of the preparations for the meeting of the Council for Justice and Internal Affairs next week.

No member state had objections to the proposal to admit Croatia to Schengen. According to their internal rules, some member statesmust obtain the approval of the competent committees in their national parliaments for their positions in the EU Council.

The governments of Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, and the Netherlands have submitted proposals to their parliaments supporting Croatia's entry and are now waiting for their green light. All other EU and Schengen members have already confirmed their support for Croatia. Coreper will again have the expansion of the Schengen area on the agenda on December 7, a day before the meeting of interior ministers who should take the final decision.

Austria is allegedly against Bulgaria and Romania entering

According to diplomatic sources, the Dutch ambassador was against accepting Bulgaria, Germany supported all three countries, and Austria was against Bulgaria and Romania. Another diplomatic source told Hina that France is strongly committed to Romania.

The problem is that Bulgaria and Romania cannot be separated because the border between these countries was never even intended to be the external Schengen border. To separate the two countries, it would be necessary to prepare the protection of that border and organize the border crossings in accordance with the Schengen rules, and this would take several years.

According to this source, there may be pressure on those who oppose Bulgaria and Romania so that all three countries enter, but it is more likely that only Croatia will get the green light. On the agenda are proposals for two decisions, one for Croatia and one for Bulgaria and Romania. The decision requires the consent of all 22 member states in the Schengen area.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

ZAGREB, 6 July 2022 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović on Wednesday received Slovenian Foreign Affairs Minister Tanja Fajon, with whom he talked about Ljubljana's support on Croatia's path towards membership of the Schengen Area and the euro area, as well as the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Milanović and Fajon talked about the possibilities of further improvement of cooperation between the two countries, as well as about Croatia's entry into the euro area and the Schengen Area, for which President Milanović expects Slovenia's support, his office said in a press release.

A topic of the meeting was also the situation in Southeast Europe, notably in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With regard to the upcoming elections in that country, President Milanović reiterated his position that it was important and necessary to ensure the legitimate representation of all three constituent peoples in that country.

Milanović expressed satisfaction with Slovenia's support in the effort to secure Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of a European Union candidate, which he himself advocates, and the two politicians also discussed the security crisis caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 29 June 2022 - The Council of the European Union has initiated the procedure for decision making on the admission of Croatia to the Schengen passport-free travel area, requesting an opinion from the European Parliament which is required for a final decision, Hina learned from diplomatic sources on Wednesday.

The opinion of the European Parliament is not binding on the Council, but constitutes a procedural step that cannot be avoided.

The decision to initiate the procedure was made on Wednesday at a meeting of the Committee of Representatives, which consists of the ambassadors of the EU member states.

The draft Council Decision "on the full application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in the Republic of Croatia" was sent to the European Parliament together with a letter to Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

"It is my pleasure to inform you that the Council has decided on 29 June 2022 to consult the European Parliament on a draft Council Decision on the full application of the Schengen acquis in the Republic of Croatia. The Council would be grateful if the European Parliament could kindly submit its opinion as soon as possible," says the letter, seen by Hina.

After the European Parliament receives the letter, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs will appoint a rapporteur to prepare a draft opinion, which will first be discussed by the Committee. After it is adopted by the Committee, it will be sent for further adoption at a plenary session of Parliament.

It is expected that the European Parliament will vote on a final opinion at one of the two plenary sessions scheduled for October. That will pave the way for a final decision that requires the consensus of 22 EU members of the Schengen area.

The Schengen area currently consists of 26 European countries, four of which are not EU members and have no voting rights - Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The Council decision might also be adopted in October.

Should there be no unforeseen obstacles, in the tenth year of its EU membership Croatia would simultaneously join the Schengen area and the euro area, the two closest integration associations at the core of the European Union.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 30 May 2022 - Slovenia supports Croatia's entry to the Schengen Area, Slovenia's future foreign minister Tanja Fajon said on Monday but warned that a consensus o the matter would be hard to achieve in the European Union before the Schengen policy was reformed.

Slovenia supports the expansion of the Schengen Area to Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria but it will be difficult to achieve political agreement on that, Fajon said answering questions from the parliament's foreign affairs committee.

She added that the reason for this was "mistrust" between members of the Schengen Area that emerged after the migration crisis of 2015 and 2016, which was why five Schengen Area member states, including Austria, were still conducting tighter controls on the border with neighboring countries that were not in the Schengen Area.

"Until such time that we reform the Schengen treaty, I think enlargement to the three new countries is jeopardized. I think that we first need to create powerful trust between the member states," Fajon said.

In her introductory address, in which she presented the principles based on which she will conduct Slovenia's foreign policy, Fajon said that she will advocate consistent respect for the border arbitration agreement with Croatia, as stated in the coalition agreement between the three parties that will form the new Slovenian government, headed by Robert Golob.

However, she added that she sincerely advocates the strategy of the best possible relations with Croatia, noting that Croatia's entry into the Schengen Area and the OECD is in the mutual interest of Slovenia and Croatia.

"We have a lot more common interests than differences with Croatia, and all issues can be resolved if there is political will," said Fajon.

Fajon said that Slovenia will advocate for EU enlargement to Western Balkan countries and for dialogue between Belgrade and Priština and that it will participate more actively in that process both at the European level and at the forums of regional initiatives.

She criticized the outgoing government led by Janez Janša in reference to foreign policy over the past two years, notably its "deficient" respect for independent institutions and the media, as well as its closeness to "the authoritarian regimes" in Hungary and Poland.

Fajon added that Slovenia would once again turn to the "core" EU countries with strong institutions and respect for the rule of law. In that context, she singled out Germany, but she also mentioned France and Italy.

 For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 24 May 2022 - The European Commission on Tuesday reiterated its recommendation that three EU member states -- Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania -- should be admitted to the Schengen Area after they met the membership criteria.

Today the EC presented its State of Schengen Report 2022. This is the first time the Commission is presenting such a report, following last year's Schengen Strategy.

The report also "reminds of the importance of completing the Schengen area and calls upon the Council to adopt the decisions to allow Croatia, as well as Romania and Bulgaria, to formally become a part of it, in view of the fact that all criteria have been fulfilled. The same will apply to Cyprus once it has successfully completed the Schengen evaluation process."

The State of Schengen report will serve as the basis for discussions of Members of the European Parliament and Home Affairs Ministers in the Schengen Forum on 2 June, and in the upcoming Schengen Council on 10 June.

The report sets a list of priority actions for 2022-2023 that are to be addressed at both national and European levels such as implementing the new IT architecture and interoperability for border management, making full use of cross-border cooperation tools, ensuring systematic checks at the external borders of all travelers, ensuring that Frontex reaches the full potential of its mandate, lifting all long-lasting internal border controls, and adopting the revised Schengen Borders Code.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 13 May 2022 - Slovenia's new Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon is advocating that Croatia enters the Schengen Area as soon as possible, but on the condition that the border arbitration award is implemented, Večernji List daily said on Friday.

The paper quotes Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman as saying that Croatia's Schengen entry has nothing to do with the border arbitration.

According to the Slovenian STA news agency, Fajon said Schengen should be renewed as soon as possible by setting clear and transparent rules for accession.

Fajon said she was advocating that Croatia join as soon as possible and that those rules included implementation of the arbitration award which defines the Croatian-Slovenian border.

The Croatian parliament adopted a decision to irrevocably walk out of the arbitration process because it was compromised and contaminated by Slovenia's arbitrator and agent, who used illegal means to influence the process.

Slovenia, however, insisted on the arbitration, which continued and an award was delivered which Croatia does not recognise. This was why all Slovenian governments before the last one led by Janez Janša made normalisation of relations between the two countries conditional on Croatia's recognition and application of the arbitration award, which has been unacceptable to all Croatian governments.

After a two-year arbitration break during the Janša cabinet, the problem has now returned with the new government led by Robert Golob, as indicated by Fajon's statement as well as Golob, who said recently that the award remains "an anchor in Slovenia's policy on Croatia," Večernji List said, adding that this could lead to new tensions between the two countries.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 7 April 2022- The European Parliament on Wednesday discussed a report on the Schengen evaluation mechanism and MEPs called for more frequent unannounced inspections and intensified monitoring of whether human rights are respected at the EU's borders.

Migrant crises and a series of terror attacks on EU soil have resulted in differences in the application of the Schengen acquis by the member states, and the Schengen has come across a crisis.

During the debate, it was also said that the coronavirus pandemic had produced an additional burden on the Schengen area and that internal border controls were restored.

Swedish MEP Sara Skyttedal, who is a rapporteur for the Council regulation on the establishment and operation of an evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis, called for more unannounced inspections to deal with suspected international security risks and violations of fundamental human rights.

"Unannounced visits, being one of the most effective tools to verify Member States practices, should take place without prior notification to the Member State concerned," reads the report on this topic.

"Unannounced visits should take place for ‘investigative’ purposes in order to verify compliance with obligations under the Schengen acquis, including, in response to indications as regards the emergence of systemic problems that could potentially negatively impact the functioning of the Schengen area or lead to fundamental rights violations, in particular allegations of serious violations of fundamental rights at the external borders," it is suggested.

The document was adopted on Thursday by 427 votes for, 102 votes against, while 24 MEPs abstained from the vote.

The Schengen area now has a population of 420 million in the 26 member-states.

Croatia has met all the technical requirements for its admission to the passport-free zone.

Croatian MEP Karlo Ressler told Hina that Croatia's joining the Schengen area was in the interest of all Schengen members and the EU.

Asked if there was opposition to plans to admit Croatia to the Schengen area, Ressler said that the visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Zagreb last year was a watershed moment.

Ressler underscored that the whole process is going as planned.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 26 Jan 2022 - Austrian Minister for the EU Karoline Edtstadler said in Vienna on Wednesday that Croatia's joining the Schengen Area was an important security issue for the EU which Vienna supported, the Croatian parliament stated in a press release.

Minister Edtstadler met with Parliament Deputy Speaker Željko Reiner, who is visiting Austria.

At the meeting, Reiner thanked Austria for its support in the aftermath of the earthquakes that struck Croatia in 2020.

He also thanked Austria for its continued support for Croatia's foreign policy priorities -- joining the Schengen Area, the euro area and the OECD.

The parliament's press release also said that Reiner explained to the Austrian minister the problem of the current election law in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the status of Croats in that country.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 18 Dec, 2021 - Once it enters the Schengen area of passport-free travel, Croatia will not erect a fence on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in an interview with the Večernji List daily Saturday issue.

Commenting on his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier this week, Plenković said that Croatia supports BiH's sovereignty and integrity as well as its spirit as agreed in Dayton - one state, two entities and three equal constituent peoples, noting that Croatia will not allow the inequality of Croats in relation to the other two constituent peoples.

"My position is clear and I reiterated it once again in Sarajevo and Mostar - Croatia will not erect a fence or a wall on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. That border connects us and that will remain so after Croatia's accession to the Schengen area. But that makes cooperation between our police forces and other relevant services extremely important, so that we can prevent illegal migrations," he said.

Schengen entry is not only a major privilege, it is also a major obligation for Croatia. Our state border with BiH, Serbia and Montenegro will become the external Schengen border and that is why effective, responsible and thorough control of the border will be a permanent task of the Croatian border police, Plenković said.

He added that agreement was reached during his visit to Sarajevo on the continuation of talks on a possible change of the categories of individual border crossings and on facilitating the flow of people and goods in line with EU regulations.

For more on politics, follow TCN's dedicated page.

For more about Croatia, CLICK HERE.