The interior ministers of the 22 EU member states that are also members of the Schengen area adopted the final decision on the full application of the Schegen acquis in Croatia.
Bulgaria and Romania failed to receive the green light at the meeting. Austria was opposed to the admission of both countries while the Netherlands was against Bulgaria.
On 1 January, border controls will be abolished at the Croatian land and sea border crossing points with the countries of the Schengen area, namely Slovenia and Hungary, and at the airports on 26 March 2023.
The reason for the different dates is of a technical nature. Passenger exits at the airports need to be adjusted because flights within the Schengen Area are treated as domestic flights. This is always done when daylight savings time begins, in this case on 26 March 2023.
As of 1 January, there will be 27 member states in the Schengen area, including 23 EU members plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, all members of the European Free Trade Association.
The EU member states that remain outside the Schengen area are Bulgaria and Romania, which have been waiting for approval for 11 years and which they failed to get on Thursday, then Cyprus, which does not control its entire territory, and Ireland, which does not want to join Schengen because it does not want to introduce border controls with Northern Ireland.
The Schengen area is the largest area without internal border controls with almost 420 million people. Close to two million people travel to work across the internal borders every day, and in some areas these daily cross-border commuters make up a third of the workforce.
The absence of border controls within the Schengen area brings considerable savings and facilitates trade, and this is especially important for Croatia, given that its strong tourism sector will profit because most tourists come from Schengen countries and will no longer have to wait for hours to cross the border.
In the tenth year of its EU membership Croatia joins the euro area and Schengen
In the tenth year of its EU membership Croatia becomes a member of the Schengen area and the euro zone at the same time. The changeover to the euro is set also for 1 January.
In order to enter the Schengen area, aspirants are required to undergo evaluations to establish whether they can take responsibility for the control of external borders on behalf of other Schengen countries, efficiently cooperate with the police authorities of other Schengen member states in order to maintain a high level of security after the abolition of border controls, and apply Schengen rules, such as control of land, sea and air borders.
Schengen member states also issue Schengen visas, maintain police cooperation and personal data protection and use the Schengen Information System.
Schengen evaluation launched in 2015
Two years after joining the EU in mid-2013, Croatia was ready to start the Schengen evaluation process.
On 6 March 2015, the Croatian government sent a letter saying it was ready for evaluations in all relevant areas of the Schengen acquis from 1 July of the same year.
The evaluation process started in June 2016 and ended in May 2019.
On 22 October, 2019, the European Commission confirmed that Croatia met all the technical requirements for Schengen accession.
This assessment was unanimously confirmed by the EU ministers of the interior at their meeting on 9 December, 2021. These conclusions are a procedural requirement for a final decision on entering the Schengen Area.
The next step was after that was the proposal for a final decision on the abolition of border controls between Croatia and the countries of the Schengen area.
At the very end of its rotating presidency, on June 29 of this year, the French EU Presidency initiated the process for adopting a final decision.
Then the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) decided to send the draft decision on the "full application of the Schengen acquis communautaire in the Republic of Croatia" to the European Parliament with an accompanying letter to the President of the Parliament, Roberta Metsola, requesting the delivery of the opinion as soon as possible.
The opinion of the European Parliament in this case is not binding on the Council, but under the rules of procedure the Council cannot make a decision without that opinion, whatever it may be.
On 10 November, at a plenary session in Brussels, the European Parliament overwhelmingly supported Croatia's entry into the Schengen area, and after that the only thing left was a unanimous decision by the Schengen countries, and that happened today.
Croatia first in EU to introduce independent police oversight in cooperation with civil society
The tides of irregular migrants arriving in Europe since 2015 have prompted Croatia to introduce independent oversight of its border police. Croatia was the first in the EU to establish such oversight in cooperation with civil society. This was to fend off the allegations by some NGOs about the mistreatment of migrants by the Croatian police.
Croatia has undergone the most comprehensive and detailed process of evaluation of its readiness for Schengen membership.
In this process, the country has met 281 requirements and recommendations from the eight policy chapters of the Schengen acquis.
Croatia has also invested funds in the upgrade of the border control system and has used EU funds for this purpose.
The country has absorbed €220 million from EU funds to enhance technical equipment for border control and police training .
Croatia's EU external border is over 1,350 kilometres long and as many as 6,500 police guard it.
The longest section of the external border is between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1,011 kilometres. The other sections are the borders with Serbia and Montenegro.
Schengen one of main achievements of the European project
The Schengen area is one of the main achievements of the European project. It started in 1985 as an intergovernmental project between five EU countries– France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – and has gradually expanded to become the largest free travel area in the world.
Schengen is the name of a small village in Luxembourg, on the border with Germany and France, where the Schengen Agreement and the Schengen Convention were signed in 1985 and in 1990 respectively.