This week, the EU Commission ruled in favor of expanding the control-free Schengen area to include Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. It’s time to welcome them,” said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson Wednesday in Brussels. The Brussels authority called on EU states to allow these three member states “full participation” in the Schengen area. The vote is scheduled for December 8 in Brussels and unanimity is required.
Now, however, resistance to this step is increasing. Austria is also one of the opponents of enlargement, as Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) made clear to KURIER. “It’s not the time to vote on an extension now if the outer border system isn’t working.” The trigger for the resistance is the flow of refugees arriving in Central Europe via the Balkans. More than 90,000 migrants have already been detained in Austria this year, 75,000 of whom were not registered in any other EU country, according to the Interior Ministry.
Enlargement will therefore be a hot topic at next week’s special meeting of interior ministers. Especially when Croatia was about to join the Schengen area. However, there will be no special vote for Croatia, as the Czech Presidency of the Council only wants membership to be voted on as a block. Gerhard Karner: “Expanding a broken system cannot work. The situation in Europe clearly shows that the protection of the external border has failed.”
What is the Schengen area?
The Schengen area includes all EU countries except Bulgaria, Ireland, Croatia, Romania and Cyprus, as well as four non-EU countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
As a general rule, there are no stationary identity checks at the internal borders of the Schengen area. Especially after the migration crisis of 2015, this principle was suspended by several countries, including Austria. For example, Slovenia has complained for years that Austria continues to tighten border controls.