Croatia announced today, Thursday, that the European Union has agreed to join the Schengen area, where there are no border controls, starting next January.
The Croatian diplomatic mission in Brussels wrote on Twitter: “The last step is complete! The decision of the Council (EU) – Croatia’s accession to the Schengen area from 1 January 2023 has been officially confirmed”.
With this unanimous green light from a meeting of interior ministers in Brussels, Croatia became the 27th member of this vast region in which more than 400 million people can move freely without restrictions at internal borders.
On the other hand, Romania and Bulgaria still had to wait. Austria vetoed his candidacy and the Netherlands vetoed Bulgaria’s, leaving “some bitterness in the room”, according to a diplomatic source.
Romania, with a population of 19 million, is procedurally related to the case of Bulgaria, which has a population of 6.5 million. The two former communist countries joined the EU in 2007 and have been seeking entry into Schengen for over a decade.
And Croatia, with a population of 3.9 million, has been a member of the European Union since 2013, and its membership of Schengen has a positive effect on its long transport lines along its borders with EU countries. It will also work to strengthen the tourism sector in Croatia.
The European Commission and parliament have long called for Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria to be included in the vast region, which includes 22 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Source: EuroNews
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