This week, the EU Commission spoke out in favor of expanding the control-free Schengen area to include Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. It’s high time to welcome them,” said the EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson on Wednesday in Brussels. The Brussels authority called on the EU states to allow these three member states “full participation” in the Schengen area. The vote is scheduled to take place in Brussels on December 8th 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 the KURIER. “It is not time to vote on an extension now if the external border system is not working.” The trigger for the resistance is the stream of refugees that is pouring into Central Europe via the Balkans. More than 90,000 migrants have already been apprehended in Austria this year, 75,000 of whom were not registered in any other EU country, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Enlargement will therefore be a hot topic at next week’s special meeting of interior ministers. Especially when Croatia was just regarding to join the Schengen area. However, there will be no special vote for Croatia, since the Czech Council Presidency only wants the accession to be voted on as a block. Gerhard Karner: “Expanding a broken system cannot work. The situation in Europe shows crystal clear that the external border protection 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 rule, there are no stationary identity checks at the internal borders in the Schengen area. Especially following the migration crisis in 2015, this principle was suspended by a number of countries, including Austria. For example, Slovenia has been complaining for years that Austria keeps extending border controls.
