Immigration: EU Commission Criticized for Giving Croatia Green Light to Join Schengen

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A decision of the European Commission announced on Tuesday, that Croatia has taken the necessary measures to ensure that the conditions for the application of all the Schengen rules and standards are met, has sparked criticisms among many, in particular, Slovenian officials.

The Prime Minister of Slovenia Marjan Sarec has reacted immediately after the announcement of the European Commission that Croatia has met the technical Conditions to join Schengen, calling it a political decision. He insisted that Croatia should first implement the arbitration ruling on its border dispute with Slovenia.

“We regret that the European Commission decided on such an important matter, the assessment of Croatia’s preparedness to join Schengen just before the end of its term and that it adopted a political decision,” PM Sarec said.

The Slovenian side had previously called on the commission not to take such a decision at the very end of its term, but to leave it to the coming commission.

Tanja Fajon, a Slovenian politician and Member of the European Parliament from also showed her disappointment calling the decision by the Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker “unacceptable”.

“We would like very much to see Croatia join Schengen, but only after it had met all the conditions. It seems that’s not the reality. Reports by non-governmental organizations reveal what happens on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina,” she said.

In a meeting with the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in Zagreb on Wednesday, the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said he is worried that the European Union could better face migration and security challenges with Croatia in the Schengen area.

Prime Minister Sarec had also expressed his concerns regarding migration challenges, by pointing out that Slovenia had received 12,000 illegal migrants coming through Croatia this year so far.

Slovenian MEP Milan Brglez also expressed his dissatisfaction with the Commission’s decision, noting that the EU Council will have the final say on the matter, however.

“I regret the move by the outgoing European Commission. Instead of eliminating internal borders … it is giving the false hope of the expansion of Schengen,” he said.

Slovenian Parliamentary Speaker Dejan Židan, the head of the coalition Social Democrats (SD), also called the decision “political”.

Last Tuesday European Commission agreed that Croatia had taken the necessary measures to ensure that the conditions for the application of all the Schengen rules and standards are met. However, they established that Croatia still has to continue its work on the implementation of all ongoing actions, with a focus on the management of external borders.

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