Press release - Bulgaria and Romania should be in Schengen by end of 2023, says Parliament

MEPs regret the Council’s decision of 8 December 2022 to reject their membership “without presenting any legal justification related to accession criteria”.

Metadata

Provider:

European Parliament

URL:

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20230707IPR02431/

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Information

Tags:

European Parliament, Commission, Member of the European Parliament, Goal, Romanians, European Commission, Parliament, Council, Health, Environment, CO2, Road, EU, Schengen Area, European

Geotags:

ROMANIA, ICELAND, IRELAND, SWITZERLAND, CYPRUS, BULGARIA, LIECHTENSTEIN, NORWAY

Summary

Key Points:

MEPs regret the Council’s decision of 8 December 2022 to reject their membership “without presenting any legal justification related to accession criteria”.
A larger Schengen area without border controls would make the EU stronger, say MEPs, noting that all member states have the right to join Schengen once they are ready.
The fact that Romania and Bulgaria are still outside the visa-free travel area burdens the businesses and populations of the two countries socially and economically, according to Parliament.
Background
Currently, all EU member states except Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania are part of the Schengen free-travel area, which also includes non-EU states Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.