site.btaEU Home Affairs Commissioner: Bulgaria's and Romania's Accession to Schengen is Important Step

The revised Schengen legislation and the first but important step with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen, as well as the strengthening of the European border agency Frontex, are important progress, said Tuesday EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson on the occasion of the presentation of a report on the state of Schengen a year before the 40th anniversary of the abolition of internal European borders.

The report notes that last year the Schengen area remained the most visited place in the world and more than 10 million Schengen visas were issued. Some 500 million visitors have made trips, and that's 92% of the number before the COVID pandemic.

The European Commission notes that the latest legislative changes aimed at increasing cooperation between law enforcement forces are forthcoming and the abolition of internal border checks where they still continue can be expected. It is added that further improvements are needed to the system for the exchange of intelligence between Schengen countries. The Commission again notes that it proposes that border checks should be replaced by joint police patrols between neighbouring Schengen countries.

According to Brussels, checks at the external borders should be of better quality, the number of migrants readmissions should be increased and the Schengen Information System should be used more. The Commission proposes that EU countries better align their actions related to the Schengen area and improve cooperation with foreign countries, make intelligence-based decisions and fully digitize border processes, interact with the return of irregular migrants and prevent their unauthorized movement. It is noted that all these issues will be discussed by the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council in June.