Today, Thursday, the European Union announced its approval of Croatia's accession to the Schengen area, starting next January, while rejecting the requests of Bulgaria and Romania.
The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union wrote on Twitter, "The Council adopted its decision. It is officially confirmed that Croatia will join the Schengen Area as of January 1, 2023."
The tweet stated on Twitter that the Schengen area is expanding for the first time in more than a decade.
The last time the free movement area was expanded was in 2011 to include Liechtenstein.
The decision paves the way for the abolition of land border restrictions between Croatia and other Schengen countries, starting from the beginning of next year, and this will be followed by the abolition of restrictions imposed at airports at a later time.
approval requirement
Allowing new members to join the Schengen area requires the unanimous approval of the interior ministers of the member states.
On the other hand, Romania and Bulgaria still had to wait. Austria vetoed their candidacy, while the Netherlands vetoed Bulgaria's candidacy, creating "some bitterness in the room," a diplomatic source told AFP.
The Schengen area includes 26 countries, including 4 countries outside the European Union (Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland), and about 400 million people live in this area, and the length of the external borders reaches 50,000 km.
The Schengen Agreement, which was signed in 1985 and began to be implemented in 1995, abolishes borders between member states.