The authorities in Sofia expect a decision on full membership of Bulgaria and Romania in Schengen by the end of the year.
“On 10 October, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, together with Hungary’s interior minister, are to propose to the Council of the European Union that checks at land borders be abolished,” Yordanka Chobanova, who heads the European Commission’s representation in Bulgaria, said on Monday.
Expectations in Sofia are that the European Commission will strongly support Schengen, Chobanova added.
Air and sea border controls were lifted for Bulgaria and Romania on 31 March, but land border controls remained in place because of Austria’s veto.
Austria’s decision to block Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen is open-ended and depends on solving the problem of illegal migration in the EU, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced in January during a visit to Bulgaria.
Bulgaria’s direct losses from postponing its full Schengen accession amount to more than €400 million, according to a report by the Institute of Economic Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, presented in July by caretaker Economy Minister Petko Nikolov.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said in June that she expected a decision on the abolition of internal Schengen land borders for Bulgaria and Romania by the end of the year. Hungary, which supports Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to Schengen, currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
Boyko Borissov, leader of Bulgaria’s largest party, GERB, said the country needed to reassure its friends and partners in Austria that it was guarding the EU’s external borders well, but this could only happen if it had a stable government.
Bulgaria’s main goal is to join the Schengen area to ease the pressure on its borders with Greece and Romania, which is causing huge financial losses for businesses and tourism in the region.
Overturning the veto is realistic if a broad coalition is formed between the Austrian People’s Party, the Socialists and the Liberals after the Austrian elections, with the far-right Freedom Party leading in the polls.
The Schengen Agreement suffered its biggest blow at the beginning of September when Germany announced that it was taking back control of all its unpaved roads.
This means that German police will be able to carry out checks at the French, Belgian, Luxembourg and Danish borders, in addition to the existing checks at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser reassured people planning to cross the border that police would not be checking every car at the stationary checkpoint.
A few days later, France announced that it was ready to reopen EU negotiations on the migration pact and test the limits of the Schengen agreements.
“We need to review EU legislation that has not been adapted. I am thinking above all about the ‘return of migrants’ directive. It is time to change EU rules,” announced France’s new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
Source: euractiv.com
