Debate: The accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area
Date: WEDNESDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Margaritis Schinas
Language: EN

It is the largest area of borderless travel in the world, including 26 countries so far, and benefiting 420 million people. It is part of our way of life and an important element for making us feel not only nationals but also Europeans. It is also one of the most travelled regions in the world. Today, Schengen travellers make 1.25 billion journeys in the Schengen area every year.  One third of our population lives in border regions and there are 3.5 million people crossing a border every day. We also count 24 million business trips per year. These are not numbers. This is the fuel of our economy. This is what fertilises our society.  For the last 35 years, we have built an entire Schengen architecture to better protect this borderless area without controls. We must continue to build and improve the architecture of Schengen, because no system can bear the test of time without renewal. To reflect this, this year we have started an annual cycle of Schengen governance, kicked off by a new ‘state of Schengen’ report. The idea is to give Schengen strong political direction from the Commission, Parliament, the Council, to boost our important efforts on the ground, on border control, police cooperation, returns, visa, data protection. We will continue delivering on parts of these strategies for the next two years, strengthening them and the management of our external borders, ensuring that internal border checks are measures of last resort and strengthening internal security through reinforced police cooperation.  It is key that we advance on both the operational and the legislative track. Our proposal for the Schengen Borders Code put forward in December last year will make us better prepared to handle any future crisis, ensuring free movement and incorporating the lessons that we learned during the pandemic.  The new online Schengen Information System, complemented by other IT systems, will also allow us to achieve full interoperability in Europe by the end of the next year. This will be, at the time, the most advanced border protection system in the world, politically, operationally and legislatively. Honourable Members, it is also true that Schengen has faced repeated challenges. First, the refugee crisis of 2015/2016, the pandemic, persistent terrorist threats, the instrumentalisation of migrants from authoritarian leaders at our external border, and now the war of aggression against Ukraine.  In spite of all these challenges, we have consistently succeeded in preserving this crown jewel of European integration thanks to the unwavering commitment amongst Member States, but also of the Members of this House, whom I would like to profoundly thank for their commitment to our collective Schengen achievements. According to last year’s Eurobarometer, our people understand this. The overwhelming support of Europeans across our continent fully support Schengen.  Honourable Members, for the best part of more than four decades now, and despite these problems and challenges, the Schengen area has continued growing and deepening. It is now high time it grew further. Already, since 2011, the Commission has been actively advocating for the completion of Schengen, urging Member States to rapidly take the necessary steps to allow those Member States that are not yet fully part of the area to join. This will increase not only our security but also broaden our cohesion.  We have made tremendous progress in the last months, with important political steps that have been taken. In December, the Council recognised that Croatia fulfilled all the necessary conditions for the application of all parts of the Schengen acquis, and the European Parliament is now to give its opinion.  A lot of progress has also been made for the accession of Romania and Bulgaria. Both countries are waiting for the decision of the Council for more than 11 years now, when the Commission confirmed that they fully fulfil the necessary conditions to join. In the meantime, both countries continue to actively apply the Schengen acquis and contribute to our common security at the EU external border.  I wish to highlight and praise both our Romanian and our Bulgarian partners for the manner in which they have managed the external borders in the face of the large number of refugees from Ukraine. Their stance was exemplary and made us all proud. It is therefore excellent news that the Czech Presidency here present took Schengen enlargement on board as one of their main priorities.  Bulgaria and Romania remain fully committed to continue correctly applying the Schengen rules and to contributing to the proper functioning of the area as a whole. Schengen is a success built on mutual trust and the proper implementation of the acquis.  The new Schengen Evaluation and Monitoring Mechanism Regulation is clear. The verification, in accordance with the applicable evaluation procedures concerning Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia had already been completed. Despite this, and with a truly cooperative attitude, although such verification should already have been relaunched, Bulgaria and Romania have invited a team coordinated by the Commission to assess the application of the latest developments.  This upcoming voluntary reassessment of Bulgaria and Romania, by means of a fact—finding mission of Commission and Member State experts, will take place later this month. It is a very important gesture of transparency that I salute. This is not – and I want to be very clear on this point – this is not about re-evaluating Bulgaria and Romania. It is rather about allowing Member States to get the latest updates and reassurances that the Schengen acquis is still fully applied.  This team of experts will look into external border management, police cooperation, including returns, Schengen and visa information systems and visa policy developments in general. But they will look equally into the fundamental rights and data protection frameworks as horizontal topics.  Let me conclude by reiterating the Commission’s full support to the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen. This can only strengthen our collective resilience and deepen our cohesion. We now have a real opportunity in December to make at last this historic decision and let the citizens of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia benefit fully from our cherished Schengen success, making us stronger and safer together.  I remain convinced that by working together we can fortify and expand this so emblematic European success story for the benefit of our citizens, the internal market and our economies.