The Schengen Area, and the adhesion of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia

– Luis L. , Universidad Complutense of Madrid.

Paper presented as part of the Blue Europe 2021 Contest “Conrad Adenauer e Alcide de Gasperi”

Review by Henrique Horta.
The concept of free movement between European countries is quite ancient, dating all the way back to the middle ages. Whereas in modern times, this notion has been debated since since Europe faced devastation as a result of the Second World War. However, tangible measures in this direction occurred only during the 1980s, when Europe was mired in an endless argument between two opposing factions: one that supported the idea of a free Europe with no internal border checks between countries, and the other that was adamantly opposed.
France and Germany were the two pioneering countries to take the first real measures toward advancing the free movement notion, as they unanimously agreed to take this much-debated concept to the next level. On 17 June 1984, these two countries were the first to bring up the aforementioned subject during the European Council meeting in Fontainebleau, when they unanimously agreed to specify the necessary criteria for citizens’ free movement.
As a conclusion to this voyage, what became known as “The Schengen Agreement” — covering the progressive abolition of internal borders between countries and the enlargement of external border control — was only signed on 14 June 1985. The Agreement was signed in Schengen, a little village on the Moselle river in southern Luxemburg, by the five (5) European countries listed below: France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

14 June 1985 — signing the Schengen Agreement: Catherine Lalumière (France), Waldemar Schreckenberger (Germany), Paul De Keersmaeker (Belgium), Robert Goebbels (Luxemburg) & Wim van Eekelen (Netherland).
On 19 June 1990, five years later, a Convention for the concrete implementation of the Schengen Agreement was agreed. This convention addressed issues such as the elimination of internal border controls, the definition of procedures for issuing a uniform visa, the operation of a single database for all members dubbed the SIS — Schengen Information System, and the establishment of a cooperating structure between internal and immigration officers.
Thus, the Schengen Area concept continued to expand, with Italy joining on 27 November 1990, Portugal and Spain joining on 25 June 1991, and Greece joining on 6 November 1992.
Despite the fact that the Schengen Agreement — including treaties and rules — was established, the Schengen Area’s actual implementation began on 26 March 1995, when seven Schengen member countries — France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain — decided to abolish internal border controls.
Since then, the Schengen Area has experienced rapid growth and expansion. Thus, on 28 April 1995, Austria joined, and on 19 December 1996, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden joined. On the other hand, following the lead of a sample of seven of the aforementioned nations, Italy and Austria abolished internal border restrictions in October and December 1997, respectively.
Another significant achievement of the Schengen Agreement occurred in May 1999, when “The Treaty of Amsterdam” incorporated the agreement into the legal framework of the European Union, whereas previously, the Schengen treaties and rules established by the agreement were not part of the EU and operated independently.
The Schengen Area’s expansion continued apace, with Greece joining in January 2000 and Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, and Norway joining in March 2001. On 16 April 2003, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined, followed by Switzerland in October 2004. This successful narrative did not end there, as the same states declared the abolition of their land and sea borders in December 2007 and of their airport border restrictions in March 2008.
Liechtenstein became the 26th and final country to ratify the Schengen Agreement and join the Schengen Area in February 2008.
Switzerland abolished land border controls in December 2008 and airport border controls in March 2009.
The most recent significant event in the implementation of the Schengen Agreement occurred in December 2011, when Liechtenstein declared the abolition of its internal border controls three years after signing the Schengen Agreement.

Potential Schengen Area members

Being a member state of the European Union (EU) is inextricably linked to membership in the Schengen Area, despite the fact that this is a legally required step. The bulk of the following EU member countries have been afflicted by unsolved political concerns, resulting in their exclusion from the Schengen Area.
As is the case with Cyprus, which has been a member of the EU since 2004 but has not yet joined the Schengen Area, the Schengen Agreement cannot be signed until the island’s conflict as a de facto divided island and related political issues are resolved. Outside of the EU, the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia will require additional processing and mechanisms until they can join the area.
Bulgaria and Romania’s Schengen Area applications were accepted by the European Parliament in June 2011 but rejected by the Council of Ministers in September 2011, with the Dutch and Finnish governments citing concerns over anti-corruption measures and efforts to combat organized crime.
Similarly, Bulgaria and Romania are the following two (2) EU nations since 2007 that are not Schengen Area members or have not yet signed the Schengen Agreement. These countries submitted a request to join the Schengen Area, which was approved by the European Parliament in June 2011, but was rejected by the Council of Ministers in September 2011, as Finland and Germany expressed concern about these countries’ inability to enforce anti-corruption and anti-crime mechanisms, as well as about the illegal entry of Turkish citizens from these countries into the Schengen Area.
Croatia is the next Schengen Area candidate country to sign the Schengen Agreement. Despite joining the EU on 1 July 2013, the country has not yet been admitted to the zone. As of March 2015, the country had signaled its readiness to join and is currently undergoing a technical evaluation that began on 1 July 2015 and is slated to conclude in July 2016. On the other hand, the illegal entries resulting from the 2015 migration influx from Greece through North Macedonia and Serbia to Croatia on their way to Slovenia, Austria, and Hungary as Schengen member countries have raised numerous concerns about the area’s sustainability and, in particular, its future enlargement in this environment. Additionally, because the country was coping with a high volume of illegal entries via the Croatian border, Hungary stated that it could be the one to vote against Croatia’s Schengen Area entrance.
On March 25, 2021, truck wait times between European Union member states were between ten and thirty minutes, with many crossings reporting no delays at all as hauliers did their pan-European trade at 5 p.m. on a Thursday evening.
Given that all but three of the bloc’s member states are Schengen members, which allows for unfettered travel throughout the EU, the lack of delays was not surprising. However, waiting times between Hungary and Romania, both of which are EU members, were between 30 minutes and an hour.
Queues were already more than seven kilometers long and expanding at the Nagylak-Nadlac crossing point in western Romania, according to an interactive map used by hauliers.
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