The accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area
6.12.2022
Priority question for written answer P-003953/2022
to the Council
Rule 138
Petar Vitanov (S&D), Sophia in 't Veld (Renew), Javier Moreno Sánchez (S&D), Brando Benifei (S&D), Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D), Jens Geier (S&D), Birgit Sippel (S&D), Gabriele Bischoff (S&D), Domènec Ruiz Devesa (S&D), Thijs Reuten (S&D), Mohammed Chahim (S&D), Agnes Jongerius (S&D), Elena Yoncheva (S&D), Sergei Stanishev (S&D), Milan Brglez (S&D), Nils Ušakovs (S&D), Eugen Tomac (PPE), Emil Radev (PPE), Vlad-Marius Botoş (Renew), Franc Bogovič (PPE), Matjaž Nemec (S&D), Kosma Złotowski (ECR), Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Renew), Marian-Jean Marinescu (PPE), Andrey Kovatchev (PPE), Claudia Gamon (Renew), Francisco Guerreiro (Verts/ALE), Eva Maydell (PPE), Tsvetelina Penkova (S&D), Iskra Mihaylova (Renew), Cyrus Engerer (S&D), Atidzhe Alieva-Veli (Renew), Beata Kempa (ECR), Leila Chaibi (The Left), Andrey Novakov (PPE), Josianne Cutajar (S&D), Radan Kanev (PPE), Monika Beňová (S&D), Robert Hajšel (S&D), Marc Angel (S&D), Ivo Hristov (S&D), Dan Nica (S&D), Maria Grapini (S&D), Rovana Plumb (S&D), Alex Agius Saliba (S&D), Eva Kaili (S&D), Tudor Ciuhodaru (S&D), Vilija Blinkevičiūtė (S&D), Isabel García Muñoz (S&D), Carmen Avram (S&D), Márton Gyöngyösi (NI), Andris Ameriks (S&D), Angel Dzhambazki (ECR), Andrey Slabakov (ECR), Sylvie Guillaume (S&D), Iuliu Winkler (PPE), Liudas Mažylis (PPE), György Hölvényi (PPE), Miriam Lexmann (PPE), Asim Ademov (PPE), Konstantinos Arvanitis (The Left), Petros Kokkalis (The Left), Biljana Borzan (S&D), Joachim Stanisław Brudziński (ECR), Katarina Barley (S&D), Alexander Alexandrov Yordanov (PPE), Leszek Miller (S&D), Romana Tomc (PPE), Bronis Ropė (Verts/ALE), Marina Kaljurand (S&D), Victor Negrescu (S&D), Ondřej Kovařík (Renew), Klára Dobrev (S&D)
Bulgaria and Romania are legally obliged to implement the Schengen acquis, except for those provisions related to the lifting of internal borders. The two Member States cannot exercise opt-in or opt-out clauses and bear all responsibilities for the Schengen external borders without enjoying the benefits of the Schengen area.
Bulgaria and Romania successfully completed the Schengen evaluation process in 2011, which was duly recognised by the Council[1]. However, no political decision has been taken on the lifting of internal border controls for more than 11 years.
Against this background:
- 1.In previous Schengen enlargements, have Members of the Council requested additional evaluations before voting on the Council Decision?
- 2.Is there a legal basis for linking the lifting of the internal borders with the level of performance in other policy areas?
- 3.Is it a breach of the principle of sincere cooperation to require a Member State to bear full responsibility for the common policy in a certain field, while depriving the Member State of the respective benefits for an indefinite period?
Submitted: 6.12.2022
- [1] Council conclusions on Romania (Council Document 9166/11 of 9 June) and on Bulgaria (Council Document 9167/11 of 9 June 2011).