The impasse surrounding the Schengen accession of Bulgaria and Romania may be put to a vote in early December, Euronews TV reports.

This, at least, is the intention of Spain, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of 2023.

Admitting new members to the border-free Schengen area requires unanimous approval from the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA), which is made up of the interior ministers of the 27 EU member states.

The last meeting of this council is scheduled for December 5 and 6.

"We hope that this will become a reality at the last JHA within the framework of the Spanish presidency," said the acting interior minister of Spain Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who emphasized that the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen is a "priority" for the Spanish presidency.

"I'm sure it will be possible. We will do our best in December to have an agreement. We are trying to achieve it and fingers crossed, we are working very seriously on it," he said before today's Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg.

"Bulgaria and Romania are doing very well with the protection of the EU's external borders and this is important for the acceptance of both countries in Schengen". This became clear from the words of the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson before today's meeting in Luxembourg.

Bulgarian Minister of Internal Affairs Kalin Stoyanov also took part in the meeting. It is expected that he will once again raise the topic of the country's admission to Schengen.

"We have pilot projects in Bulgaria and Romania, about which I will inform the ministers today. We have completed the progress report on both sides, which is very positive. It is about better protection of the external borders. And this is important both for the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen and for the management of migration, to make sure that we can secure the external borders and have fast procedures at the borders so that we can quickly return those migrants who do not have the rights of protection. The results of Bulgaria and Romania are very promising and I will say that today", said Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs.

Last night, the EC published the reports for Bulgaria and Romania on the implementation of the pilot projects for fast asylum and return procedures, which started six months ago. According to Brussels, Bulgaria and Romania have achieved solid results with established best practices in the areas of expedited asylum procedures and efficient returns, border management and enhanced cooperation with neighboring countries.

In the field of asylum, Bulgaria conducted trainings to facilitate the implementation of the accelerated procedures for the granting of asylum provided for in the Asylum Procedures Directive. Bulgaria also drew up a list of designated safe countries of origin and safe third countries and increased the number of staff seconded by the European Union Agency for Asylum.

Bulgaria is in the process of changing its legislation to allow a negative decision on international protection to be issued together with a return decision. The Bulgarian authorities are also working on the digitization of the asylum and return systems with the support of EU agencies and the Commission.

Bulgaria has strengthened its cooperation with Frontex through the implementation of a road map that provides Bulgaria with additional resources, including a permanent corps and technical equipment for border management. In addition, Bulgaria relies on a Frontex mobile team for operational support in the fight against cross-border crime. Bulgaria signed with Frontex a special action plan on return, which led to an increase in advisory services in the field of return.

From the beginning of 2024, a new scheme will be introduced to support voluntary return and reintegration with greater financial incentives. Bulgaria has strengthened its cooperation with Europol to combat smuggling networks and to limit secondary movements within the EU, including the creation of an operational task force.

In May, Romania changed its legislation to allow the issuance of negative international protection decisions accompanied by a return decision. This contributed to a more efficient return process. Romania is also piloting the expedited procedure on a larger scale, which has resulted in the fast processing of asylum applications. The Romanian authorities further strengthened the cooperation with the European Union Asylum Agency based on the operational plan. Agency experts can now fully participate in the registration and assessment of asylum applications.

As regards border management and international cooperation, Romania continued to successfully manage its external borders with Serbia. Based on activities to prevent illegal migration with the Serbian authorities, more than 400 joint patrol missions and ad hoc patrols have been conducted since the start of the pilot project in March. Frontex's permanent corps is on the ground using mobile surveillance assets in the Romanian-Serbian border section of the Terra 2023 operational area.

In addition, Romania also maintains bilateral contacts with Member States through the High-Level Return Network and with Frontex on good practices in the field of return, and in particular on return consultations. Romania fully participates in the European Multidisciplinary Platform for Combating Criminal Threats (EMPACT) and the operational working groups established to combat criminal networks involved in migrant smuggling.

In June, the Commission granted additional funding to Bulgaria and Romania to better protect the EU's external borders: 45 million euros and 10.8 million euros respectively. This is in addition to these countries' programs under the Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI).

Follow Novinite.com on Twitter and Facebook

Write to us at editors@novinite.com

Информирайте се на Български - Novinite.bg