Croatia is the only one of the three countries whose accession to the Schengen area is certain, Romania and Bulgaria face opposition from Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden respectively. For Croatia, joining Schengen will come into force on January 1 and will bring benefits to tourism, a key sector of its economy, AFP comments.

EU justice ministers will meet on Thursday to decide on the accession of Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area.

While the Netherlands and Sweden dropped their opposition to Romania’s accession, Austria continues to oppose it. In the case of Bulgaria, the Netherlands is also opposed.

The only certainty of a positive vote is Croatia. If it is integrated into this European free movement zone, the huge queues of cars at its borders with Hungary and Slovenia will be a thing of the past, comments AFP, reports Agerpres. Croatia expects a positive response, the effects of which will come into effect on January 1 and bring benefits to tourism, a key sector of its economy.

Hot spot of Croatia

Zagreb applied for membership in 2016.

One of the main sensitivities of his dossier is the ability of the Croatian police to manage the borders with neighboring non-EU states (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia), in a context where illegal migration is a serious challenge for the country.

Since 2015, millions of migrants, many of them fleeing war zones, have risked their lives trying to reach the EU. This wave was followed by the 2020 COVID pandemic, two events that forced Schengen countries to re-impose some border controls.

If Croatia joins the Schengen area, a free movement zone for more than 400 million people in Europe, it will eliminate long queues at the Bregana border crossing between Croatia and Slovenia. “On January 1, we will remove the barriers and movement will be free,” border police chief Zoran Niceno told AFP, expecting a positive response.

In airports, the decision will take effect on March 26 due to technical reasons.

Free movement will be an important asset for tourism, a key sector of the economy of this country of 3.9 million inhabitants, which will facilitate the arrival of visitors, the head of the national tourism office, Kristijan Stanicic, said recently.

This year, Croatia received four times more tourists than its inhabitants.

“All motor carriers will be delighted,” predicts Volodymyr Yurcets from the National Association of Transporters.

On January 1, Croatia will also join the eurozone. (Photo: Dreamstime.com)

On the same topic:

• There are still four possible scenarios for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area

• Ambassador Emil Hurezianu “cries for help” to the president of Austria, a country that opposes Romania in Schengen