November 23, 2022
3:59pm
The EU’s further verification confirms that Bulgaria and Romania continue to meet the necessary requirements for the full application of the Schengen legislation. This was stated by an assessment by the European Commission, released today by the Council of the EU.
Note that in October Sofia and Bucharest invited EU representatives on a voluntary basis for a re-verification of compliance with the requirements, after they were initially assessed in 2011, but their acceptance into the European area without border controls did not follow . Last month’s inspection was “brilliantly” approved by states, European Commission Vice-President Margariti Schinas told the European Parliament.
Due to a request for additional information “from an EU country”, the European Commission agreed to an additional inspection earlier this month, which visited sites in Bulgaria and Romania, as well as both countries’ consulates in Istanbul, the report said. This second inspection confirmed the conclusions of the previous one: Bulgaria and Romania continue to meet the necessary conditions for full application of the Schengen rules, the report notes.
The EU Council is expected to vote on 8 December on the proposal to admit Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia to Schengen from the beginning of next year. A positive decision requires unanimity and in recent weeks the Netherlands and Austria have warned that they may not support the proposal, notes BTA.
2176
28
