Dutch government drops objection to Bulgaria joining Schengen

Bulgaria has met the conditions to join Europe’s passport-free Schengen area by strengthening its borders and efforts to combat illegal migration, the Netherlands said Friday (15 December), as Sofia took one step closer to joining.

The Dutch government has “come to the conclusion that Bulgaria meets the conditions set for Schengen accession and can therefore agree to a decision leading to Bulgaria’s full application to Schengen”, Dutch deputy justice minister Eric van der Burg said.

The Schengen area comprises 23 of the 27 EU member countries plus associated neighbours Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Both the Netherlands and Austria have so far thwarted Sofia’s bid to enter the free-to-travel zone over worries that the influx of asylum-seekers could grow if the Schengen zone was expanded.

But a recent follow-up mission led by the European Commission to Bulgaria found that there were no shortcomings, including in its border controls, Van der Burg said.

The country “continued to correctly apply the Schengen acquis”, he said in a letter to parliament.

“The government welcomes the results of the fact-finding missions and agrees with the conclusions drawn up by the experts from the member states and the Commission,” Van der Burg said.

“It shows that Bulgaria has continued to invest in the correct application of the entire Schengen agreement in recent years,” he said.

He added however that Bulgaria had to “continue to work on strengthening its borders.”

Parliamentary vote

Reacting to the announcement, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said he was expecting “positive news” to come out of the Netherlands as early as next week, when the Dutch parliament could decide to “lift the veto” on Sofia’s Schengen bid.

“The final decision to lift the veto has to come from the Dutch parliament, and that will happen next week, if all goes well,” Denkov said.

Established in 1985 and now numbering 27 countries, the Schengen border-free area allows people and goods to travel freely, usually without showing travel or customs documents.

Since 2011 the EU Commission has considered Bulgaria and Romania ready to join Schengen. After successive vetoes from several members, Bulgaria and Romania — EU members since 2007 — were yet again turned away at the end of 2022.

Austria vetoed both applications, while the Netherlands — until now — opposed Bulgaria’s bid too.

Earlier this week, Austria floated the idea of what it called “Air Schengen”, saying it was willing to ease rules for air traffic for Bulgaria and Romania if Brussels strengthens its external borders.

Negotiations with Austria were ongoing, Denkov said Friday, stressing that “until it is agreed, everything is preliminary talks”.

Friday’s decision was made by the outgoing Dutch government, which will step down once a new government has been formed following 22 November elections.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is considered as frontrunner to be the next Secretary General. The election is decided by consensus.

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(Edited by Georgi Gotev)