Croatia highlights its Schengen and Eurozone ambitions! As regards what we can expect under “A Europe that protects”, besides fighting terrorism, cyber threats and fake news, the Croatian presidency aims at achieving consensus where it hitherto has been missing, such as a “comprehensive” approach to migration, reforming the common asylum system and a return to the full functioning of Schengen area.
Apart from the priorities of the Croatian Presidency which have been highlighted in previous days, Plenković stressed that for his country, there were two major national goals – joining Schengen and the Eurozone.
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Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković made it clear that Croatia, the latest EU newcomer, wants to join as soon as possible the Union’s inner circles – the borderless Schengen space and the Eurozone.
“After the fall of the Berlin wall, I cannot recall any other event, that had so many repercussions on the architecture and the mood in the member states of the European Union”, he said.
Assessment of all Schengen criteria
The evaluations conducted between June 2016 and May 2019, which examined Croatia in a number of areas. European Commission had already successfully evaluated and confirmed the full implementation of the Schengen rules in the areas of data protection, police cooperation, common visa policy, return, the Schengen Information System (SIS), firearms and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. EU Commission also confirms that Croatia has taken the necessary measures to ensure that the conditions for the application of Schengen rules in the field of external border management are met. Croatia will need to continue working to ensure the consistent implementation of all ongoing actions in this field.
Finally, the Commission is also reporting on the fulfilment of commitments undertaken by Croatia in its accession negotiations that are relevant for the Schengen rules. The commitments in particular concern the area of the judiciary and respect of fundamental rights. The Commission today confirms that Croatia continues to fulfil all of them.
From the 12 countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are still outside the Eurozone, while only Romania and Bulgaria have repeatedly been refused Schengen accession by older member states, although the European Commission considers both countries fit to join.
All the 13 new members have an obligation under their EU accession treaty to join the Eurozone as soon as they are ready, but not all of them are in a hurry to do so. Poland in particular is dragging its feet, while in contrast Bulgaria ambitions to become the next EU country to join the euro. The next step for Sofia is to join the euro’s antechamber, called EMR-2, this spring.
“Although it doesn’t seem so long on the map, our border with Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, is actually longer than the Russian-Finnish border,” he said.
But Croatia doesn’t want to erect new walls, Plenković stressed. There is a sizeable Croatian population living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and building new fences “between Croats and Croats” now is “not the right political message” to send, he said.
Plenković was asked if today’s Schengen, in which individual member countries re-establish border controls is still attractive, and if Croatia hoped to join Schengen before Bulgaria and Romania.
“The Schengen area we want to join is the original one, rather than the Schengen that has internal borders behind member states who almost forgot what it was to see police at the border,” he replied.
However, he believes Croatia has an advantage: Bulgaria and Romania are still under the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), established as a condition for their EU accession in 2007. Croatia joined the EU in 2013 without such a mechanism.
Individual member countries, in particular the Netherlands, have rejected the Schengen bids of Bulgaria and Romania, linking the CVM with Schengen accession, although legally speaking, the two issues are unrelated.
Bulgaria and Romania are “similar, but different in this exercise”, Plenković said.
“Unlike Bulgaria and Romania, Croatia does not have such a mechanism,” he stressed, adding that he understood how painful the issue had been for Bulgaria and for Romania, something he witnessed on many occasions when the issue was raised in the Council.
Asked about a timetable for Croatia’s Schengen accession bid, Plenković gave a cautious answer.
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