Austria has blocked the accession of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen, the passport-free area that has abolished border checks between the vast majority of EU member states.
The Netherlands supported Romania’s bid but opposed Bulgaria’s.
Croatia, however, received unanimous backing and will join the Schengen Area as of January 2023.
“Last step completed!,” tweeted the Croatian Permanent Representation in Brussels.
The votes took place in Brussels on Thursday morning during a high-stakes meeting of interior ministers.
The negative conclusion, which was widely expected, represents a painful political defeat for both Romania and Bulgaria, who joined the European Union six years before Croatia.
The European Commission, in charge of assessing Schengen candidacies, has said the two countries are ready to become part of the passport-free area since at least 2011.
The executive released another unconditional endorsement just last month, while the European Parliament passed a new resolution denouncing the exclusion as “discriminatory.”
Over the past few years, countries that were previously opposed to Schengen enlargement, such as Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium, softened their positions, increasing the odds of a positive outcome.
France and Germany, the bloc’s most influential states, voiced their support for Romania and Bulgaria this year.
But none of this was enough to overcome the Austrian and Dutch reticence.
As Schengen accession requires unanimity, the small minority managed to block the whole process.
Austria’s opposition, which has surprised many in Brussels as it only emerged in recent weeks, is based on a new influx of asylum-seekers through the Western Balkan route.
The country says it has received 75,000 unregistered migrants in 2022, a number that poses a “security issue that we cannot wipe away,” Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Wednesday.
Nehammer then called for a five-point plan to strengthen Schengen and asked for the vote on Romania and Bulgaria to be delayed “until next august.”
Bucharest has vehemently countered Vienna’s claims, arguing Romania is not part of the Western Balkan route and that several reports issued by the European Commission and fact-finding missions of experts have proven the country is well prepared to manage its external borders.
Frontex, the EU’s border control agency, does consider Romania and Bulgaria to be part of the Western Balkan route, a spokesperson told Euronews. In the first 10 months of this year, the path has seen more than 128,000 border-crossing incidents, a 168% rise compared to the same period in 2021.
For its part, the Netherlands voted against Bulgaria’s accession bid over what it calls unaddressed rule-of-law concerns and pending pieces of legislation to tackle corruption and organised crime.
Bulgaria, which has had a caretaker government since August after a series of inconclusive elections, said the Dutch stance was unrelated to the Schengen criteria and threatened retaliatory measures in return.
At the same time, Austria and the Netherlands threw their support behind the third outstanding candidate to join Schengen: Croatia, whose evaluation process was completed back in 2020.
“The few hesitations that remain are political, and they undermine two very simple facts that we are stronger, not weaker, through Schengen enlargement,” European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas told reporters ahead of Thursday’s meeting.
“And secondly, that enlarging Schengen means more and better controls, not less.”
Schengen enables cross-border travel without the need to carry a passport or pass through border controls. It currently encompasses 26 countries, including 22 EU member states, and almost 420 million citizens.
Joining Schengen is a legal obligation for every EU country.
Only Ireland, who negotiated an opt-out clause decades ago, and Cyprus, who remains split between north and south, have not applied to enter the passport-free area.
Source: euronews
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