Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Bulgaria and Romania to be denied passport-free travel

  • Romania and Bulgaria will have to wait longer for passport-free travel (Photo: adobemac)

EU interior ministers are Thursday (7 March) set to defer a decision on Bulgaria and Romania accession to the passport free zone Schengen zone.

“I think it is clear that there will not be a vote or a decision at tomorrow’s council meeting,” said a EU presidency source on Wednesday.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Both countries fulfilled the technical requirements in 2011 to allow their citizens to join the 22 other passport free EU countries as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution in June 2011 stating that Bulgaria and Romania are ready to join. The resolution urged member states to enlarge the Schengen area based solely on the technical merits.

A unanimous decision is required among member state ministers before full membership is granted. Ministers in March last year noted that all legal conditions had been met but instead opted for a two-step membership approach.

In the first phase, checks on persons would be abolished at internal sea and air borders and between Bulgaria and Romania. The second phase would remove the remaining land border barriers.

But a number of member states, including Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands, say corruption and rule of law undermine Bulgaria and Romania’s bid for full membership.

Germany’s interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich on Monday said “Romania and Bulgaria still have to act with more determination against corruption”.

Any decision or vote on their membership will now most likely be handled by the next EU presidency, run by Lithuania in the second half of this year.

“I think what you will see is a commitment to come back to it before too long, during this year certainly,” said the source.

High-level cases of corruption, organised crime, and judicial reform are among some of the issues highlighted by the European Commission’s report in Bulgaria last year.

The massive protests that swept Bulgaria reflect some of those concerns and unseated Bulgaria’s prime minister Boris Borisov.

In Varna, Bulgaria’s third largest city, protestors ousted the 13-year reign of its mayor who stepped down on Wednesday, a day after a thirty-six year old artist died setting himself on fire outside the gates of city hall.

Germany to veto Schengen enlargement

Germany says it will veto Romania and Bulgaria's bid to join the border-free Schengen area at a meeting in Brussels later this week.

EU ministers target 'benefit tourism'

Interior ministers from Austria, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK want to put an end to "benefit tourism," where foreign EU nationals take advantage of social welfare systems in host countries.

Romania wants EU signal on Schengen membership

Bucharest expects other member states to decide on its accession to the passport-free area before it takes the rotating EU presidency on 1 January 2019 - amid criticism of a controversial new justice reform.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us