Jourová says no more obstacles for Bulgaria, Romania Schengen accession

Commission Vice President Věra Jourová on Wednesday (5 July) spoke positively regarding Bulgaria and Romania’s Schengen accession, replying to a question by EURACTIV after the EU executive presented the “Rule of Law reports 2023” for the 27 member states.

The Commission on Wednesday published its fourth annual Rule of Law Report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), providing an overview of the rule of law situation in each member state.

In Bulgaria and Romania, these reports have been highly anticipated as both hope to join the borderless Schengen zone this autumn, having been denied accession in previous years by various member states that used their power of veto.

When asked by EURACTIV about the situation over the last years where the Commission has repeatedly said Bulgaria and Romania are ready for Schengen accession, but member states quoted Commission reports, including the rule of law reports, when justifying their non-agreement, Jourová suggested a positive outcome was imminent.

“I want to reply to your sentence that over years, we were claiming something that didn’t come true- this year, it comes true”, Jourová said.

She said the Commission would end monitoring deficiencies in the rule of law, a process put in place since Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007. Some member states, including the Netherlands, had objected to the Schengen accession of Bulgaria and Romania as long as the monitoring continues.

“In the last CVM report for Bulgaria, which was in 2019, and Romania in 2022, the Commission already concluded that Bulgaria and Romania have made sufficient progress in meeting the commitments made at the time of their accession to the EU and that all CVM benchmarks have been satisfactorily met”, Jourová said.

She explained that to formally close the CVM, which the EU executive plans to do, the Commission will adopt a decision revoking a 2006 Commission decision that established it. This will come after considering the observations of the Council and the European Parliament, and she said this final state was “launched today”.

“The Commission is informing the Council and the Parliament we are sending a letter of its intention to close CVM, which will be fully replaced by the annual Rule of Law cycle. If I have good information, the Council will make observations by 25 August”, Jourová said.

She explained that the decision to revoke CVM would have been more difficult without the Rule of Law report. Bulgaria and Romania would belong to a “standard assessment line” common for all member states.

“There are remaining things to be done, both in Bulgaria and Romania, but this is also the case for all remaining member states”.

‘Diplomatic outreach’ needed

Jourová also said that, unlike some member states, the Commission never linked CVM and Schengen. This is why, she said, there would still be the need for “some diplomatic outreach” from Sofia and Bucharest “to convince their peers in the Council” that there are ready not only for exiting CVM but for entering Schengen.

In December last year, Austria and the Netherlands blocked Bulgaria’s Schengen membership. Romania was stopped by only Austria.

Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said that the Commission had found progress in Bulgaria but added that the Brussels executive was also aware that the political situation in the country had been “very complicated”, with “elections one after the other”, which made it difficult to pass legislation.

“We will see now if there is capacity to pass real reform”, he said.

“I’m just hoping that with the new political situation, it will be easier to pass some reforms in the parliament”, he said.

Since 6 June, Bulgaria has had a stable government led by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov from the reformist coalition “We Continue the Change”-Democratic Bulgaria. His deputy is former EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, who is expected to take over as prime minister after eight months.

The 38-page Commission report on Bulgaria finds “some progress” in some areas and notes that the mandate of the Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev was terminated. Geshev has been seen as an obstacle in the fight against corruption.

But the report also notes that there has been no progress yet with the reform regarding the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council, an institution that has lost credibility among the public.

The equally long report on Romania finds “significant progress on addressing the operational challenges of the National AntiCorruption Directorate, including as regards recruitment of prosecutors”, but “no progress on strengthening the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media taking into account the European standards on public service media”.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]