site.btaReport from Voluntary Fact-Finding Mission to Romania and Bulgaria on Application of Schengen Acquis Reconfirms Their Readiness for Accession

A report from a complementary voluntary fact-finding mission to Romania and Bulgaria in October reconfirms the readiness of the two countries for accession to the Schengen area. Released Wednesday, the report says that "after assessing the fields of visa policy, data protection and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, the fact-finding team considers that Bulgaria and Romania continue to meet the conditions necessary to apply all relevant parts of the Schengen acquis in full."

The report recalls that Bulgaria and Romania successfully accomplished their respective Schengen processes, as recognized by the Council in 2011. "Although the European Parliament issued a positive opinion on the draft Council Decision on the full application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in those States , no Council Decision has been taken up to date," says the report.

It also says that during the recent months important progress has been made to support the full application of the Schengen acquis in Bulgaria and Romania, including the fact-finding mission to Romania (October 9-11, 2022) and Bulgaria (October 12-14, 2022) following the invitation of these two Member States.

The mission in Bulgaria was carried out by a team consisting of experts from the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, together with two Council experts and seven experts from the European Commission. It visited the Bulgarian consulate in Istanbul; the Commission for Personal Data Protection; the Interior Ministry; the Communication and Information Systems Directorate; the Foreign Ministry – National Visa Centre; the International Operational Police Cooperation Directorate; and the Sofia Metropolitan Police Directorate.

The report stemming from the fact-finding mission provided a thorough and comprehensive assessment of the application of the Schengen acquis by Bulgaria and Romania. The on-site team did not identify any issue in the application of the Schengen acquis by Romania and Bulgaria and concluded that these Member States continue to meet the conditions necessary to apply all relevant parts of the Schengen acquis in full, the report concludes.

The enlargement of the Schengen area is expected to be discussed by the Council on December 8 but a decision to admit Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania requires a consensus and the Netherlands and Austria have already declared that they would not support that.