Croatia’s accession to the Schengen area

Subject: Croatia’s accession to the Schengen area

Since joining the EU in 2013, Croatia has been working towards accession to the Schengen area. Between 2016 and 2020 the country was the subject of an evaluation by the Commission, which concluded that it had ‘taken the measures needed to ensure the necessary conditions for the full application of the Schengen acquis’. Furthermore, in December 2021 the Council formally established that Croatia had fulfilled all the necessary conditions to join the Schengen area.

When can we expect the Commission to put the final confirmation of Croatia’s accession to the Schengen area on its agenda?

Answer given by Ms Johansson on behalf of the European Commission

(25 November 2022)

The Commission fully supports Croatia’s full accession to Schengen. In its communications adopted on 22 October 2019 (1) and on 16 November 2022 (2), the Commission considered that Croatia has taken the measures needed to ensure that the conditions for the application of all relevant parts of the Schengen acquis are met.

This was repeated by the Commission on various occasions, including in the Schengen Strategy Communication adopted on 2 June 2021 (3) and the State of Schengen Report adopted on 24 May 2022 (4), where the Commission called upon the Council to take the necessary steps for Croatia to become part of the area without controls at the internal borders.

The final decision on the accession of Croatia to the Schengen area and on the lifting of controls at the internal borders lies with the Council in accordance with the relevant procedures.

A first step was made by the Justice and Home Affairs Council of 9‐10 December 2021, where Ministers concluded that Croatia had fulfilled the necessary conditions for the application of all parts of the Schengen acquis.

The approval of these conclusions is without prejudice to the adoption, by unanimity, of a Council Decision on the full application of the Schengen acquis in Croatia.

The Council consulted the European Parliament on the draft Council Decision, and the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) discussed a draft report on 10 October 2022.

The European Parliament adopted on 10 November 2022 a positive formal opinion on Croatia’s accession and the Czech Presidency intends to table the draft Decision for adoption by the Schengen Council on 8 December 2022.

⋅1∙ COM(2019) 497 final of 22 October 2019: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the verification of the full

application of the Schengen acquis by Croatia.

⋅2∙ COM (2022) 636 final of 16 November 2022: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, ‘Making Schengen stronger with

the full participation of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia in the area without internal borders’. ⋅3∙ COM(2021) 277 final of 2 June 2021: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, ‘A strategy towards a fully functioning

and resilient Schengen area’.

⋅4∙ COM(2022) 301 final of 24 May 2022: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European and

Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, State of Schengen Report 2022.