Croatia to Officially Join Schengen Zone Next Year

The European Union (EU) greenlighted on Thursday Croatia’s bid to join Europe’s open travel zone, starting from January 2023.

"The Schengen Area is growing for the first time in more than a decade," the Czech Republic, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, said on Twitter. "Ministers approved Croatia's membership as of 1 January 2023!"

However, the chances for Romania and Bulgaria to join the zone, which includes most EU states as well as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Iceland, were dashed following opposition from Austria.

“To the citizens of Croatia: welcome, congratulations!” said the European commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson. “To the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria: you deserve to be full members of Schengen, to have access to the free movement … I share the disappointment with the citizens of Bulgaria and Romania.”

On his part, Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă expressed disappointment, noting that he would apply to enter the zone again.

“We regret and honestly do not understand the inflexible position taken by Austria,” he said. Bulgaria said it would also make another attempt.

Meanwhile, Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner pointed out that he had opposed Romania and Bulgaria’s applications because of security concerns.

“It is wrong that a system that does not work properly in many places would get expanded at this point.”

Karner revealed that Austria had reported 100,000 illegal border crossings so far in 2022, including 75,000 people who had not previously been registered in other Schengen countries as they should have been.