Croatia To Join EU’s Schengen Zone In January, Bulgaria And Romania Rejected

It’s now official: Croatia will join Europe’s Schengen zone starting January 1, 2023, which means that the country will become the 27th member of the continent’s borderless travel area.

Croatia will also join the euro zone in January. Until then, the country’s currency is the kuna, worth around 13 euro cents.

“Last step completed! Council decision adopted – It is now formally confirmed that #Croatia joins #Schengen area as of 1 January 2023,” the Croatian government announced with obvious satisfaction in Twitter.

“The Schengen Area is growing for the first time in more than a decade,” the Presidency of the Council of the European Union announced in a statement. “Ministers approved Croatia’s membership as of 1 January 2023!”

In the official announcement, the European Council said: “From 1 January 2023, checks on persons at internal land and sea borders between Croatia and the other countries in the Schengen area will be lifted. Checks at internal air borders will be lifted from 26 March 2023, given the need for this to coincide with the dates of IATA summer/winter time schedule.”

From January 1, Croatia will also start to issue Schengen visas and will be able to make full use of the Schengen Information System.

“The eastern European nation is hoping this will bring greater financial security to its citizens and raise the standard of living,” Euronews reports. ‘It should help rein in soaring inflation, which also means travellers can expect fewer dramatic fluctuations in prices.”

‘No’ to Bulgaria and Romania

Bulgaria and Romania, which had also applied, were kept out due to opposition led by Austria over concerns about corruption, security and unauthorised immigration. The Netherlands supported Romania’s bid but opposed Bulgaria’s.

Although the European Commission had ruled last month that all three Schengen candidates met the necessary criteria for joining, and the European Parliament had voted in support, accession to Schengen — an agreement between countries to abolish border checks and permit unrestricted movement to those traveling between their territories — needs unanimous backing from each and all 22 EU member nations as well as Lichtenstein, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

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Migration: the main sticking point

Unauthorized migration has been cited as the main sticking point for Austrian opposition to Bulgaria and Romania entering Schengen. “It is wrong that a system that does not work properly in many places would get expanded at this point,” Austrian interior minister, Gerhard Karner said.

According to official data, Austria has recorded 100,000 illegal border crossings in 2022. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer explained earlier this week that another reason for the government’s decision to block Bulgaria and Romania’s bid is the fact that currently the country is dealing with “75,000 unregistered illegal migrants in Austria – meaning they have crossed an external EU border and made it here. This needs to be solved first.”

“Vienna has little trust in Romanian and Bulgarian border controls and thinks that removing checks on people coming from those countries will open the country up to more unauthorized immigration,” DW (Deutsche Welle) wrote.

Romania’s prime minister, Nicolae Ciucă, was unequivocal in his disappointment: “We regret and honestly do not understand the inflexible position taken by Austria.”

He said, as did Bulgaria’s government, that the country will try again.

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“Austria’s negative vote today has regrettable impact on European unity and cohesion,” Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Especially in the current complicated geo-strategic context, and Russia’s persistent attempts to fracture European unity.”

The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis also blasted Austria for single-handedly blocking his country, calling the move “inexplicable,” “regrettable” and “unjustified.”

“A single member state chose to block European unanimity, in an inexplicable way that is difficult to understand for the entire European Union,” Iohannis said in a statement shared with Euronews.

All three Balkan countries have been members of the European Union for years –Romania and Bulgaria since 2007 and Croatia since 2013 — but not of the Schengen zone, which comprises almost 420 million citizens from the 26 member countries.

Romania and Bulgaria have been waiting over a decade for confirmation of their bids to enter Schengen. Now they will have to wait longer.