The European Parliament is calling on member states to allow Romania and Bulgaria to join the Schengen area in early 2023.

In a resolution adopted by the EP, MEPs urge the Council to take all necessary steps to adopt a decision on the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area of ​​free movement by the end of 2022. This should ensure the abolition of checks on persons on all internal borders for the two countries in early 2023.

The resolution was adopted with 547 votes in favor, 49 votes against and 43 abstentions.

Noting that the Schengen area is "one of the greatest achievements of the European Union", MEPs expressed their "astonishment" that the Council was unable to decide on the admission of Bulgaria and Romania, despite both countries fulfilling the necessary conditions since 2011.

Maintaining internal border controls is discriminatory and has a serious impact on the lives of mobile workers and citizens, MEPs say.

Internal border controls also have a negative impact on the functioning of the EU's internal market, hindering imports, exports and the free movement of goods from cargo ports, the resolution also said.

Currently, all EU member states, with the exception of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania, are part of the Schengen area, which also includes non-EU countries - Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

MEPs have repeatedly called for Bulgaria and Romania to be fully admitted to Schengen, such as in the 2018 resolution on the subject, the 2020 resolution on the state of Schengen in the context of the pandemic and the 2021 report on the functioning of the space for free movement. Today's resolution is the conclusion of the plenary debate on 5 October 2022.

The accession of new countries to Schengen requires a unanimous decision of the Council of the EU. The Czech Presidency of the Council has indicated that it intends to hold discussions on the subject before the end of 2022.

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