From 2023, people will not have to stop for border checks as they pass between Croatia and the rest of the so-called Schengen zone – the world’s largest free travel zone considered one of the main achievements of European integration. It will “shorten the journey and the wait, thank God,” said driver Nenad Benic as he queued to cross the Bregana border crossing from Croatia into Slovenia on Thursday. Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said he was disappointed and would apply to re-enter the zone. “We regret and frankly do not understand the inflexible position taken by Austria,” he said. Bulgaria will also try again, its foreign minister said. Croatia got the green light to become the zone’s 27th member after tense talks between the bloc’s interior ministers in Brussels. “To the citizens of Croatia: welcome, congratulations!” said European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson. “To the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria – you deserve to be full members of Schengen, to have access to free movement… I share the disappointment with the citizens of Bulgaria and Romania.” Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said he opposed Romania and Bulgaria because of security concerns. “It’s wrong that a system that doesn’t work well in many places would be extended to this point,” he said. Austria, he added, had recorded 100,000 illegal border crossings so far this year, including 75,000 people who had not previously registered in other Schengen countries as they should have. Accession needs unanimous support from all members – 22 EU nations plus Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. The Netherlands also opposed granting access to Bulgaria, citing concerns about corruption and immigration. Migration has been a hot-button issue in Europe since 2015, when more than a million people arrived in the Mediterranean Sea, mostly on smugglers’ boats, prompting the EU to tighten its borders and asylum laws. UN figures show that around 145,000 people have crossed the sea this year, while more than 1,800 have died trying to reach Europe’s shores, a far lower figure than in 2015. But EU border police Frontex said last month that 281,000 irregular entries were recorded across the bloc in the first 10 months of 2022, up 77% on a year ago and the highest since 2016. With the Western Balkans route currently the most active, and the EU welcoming several million Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s war, migration concerns have returned to the fore. Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, additional reporting by Bart Meijer and Clement Rossignol Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Crispian Balmer and Andrew Heavens Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
