European Commission reaffirms that Romania and Bulgaria are ready for full accession to Schengen

On Thursday, the European Commission reaffirmed its position that Romania and Bulgaria are fully prepared for full accession to the Schengen area."Regarding the Commission's position on lifting internal border controls for Bulgaria and Romania, this remains clear, as President Ursula von der Leyen stated in the political guidelines for the next European Commission (2024-2029): Bulgaria and Romania have demonstrated their capacity related to border management and returns. They are prepared and should fully benefit from the Schengen area," a spokesman for the European Commission told Agerpres.He thus answered a question regarding the consequences of the introduction of internal border controls by several Schengen states on the expansion of this area through the full integration of Bulgaria and Romania, including land borders."The Council will have to take an additional decision to set a date for the lifting of internal land border controls between Bulgaria, Romania and other Schengen countries. The Commission will continue to provide all necessary support to the Presidency of the Council to ensure that a decision on land borders can be taken in 2024,'' the quoted spokesperson added.Ten days ago, Germany introduced, for a period of six months, controls at all its land borders to combat illegal immigration.The German authorities had already introduced controls at the borders with several neighboring countries, and from September 16 these measures were extended to the borders with Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark.According to the EU asylum rules (the so-called Dublin regulation), asylum applications must be processed in the member state where the migrant first enters the EU bloc.The Schengen area is the free movement area of the European Union that includes most of the 27 EU member states. At the end of March of this year, Romania, together with Bulgaria, joined this area partially - only with air and sea borders due to the lack of unanimity in the EU Council, and a decision on the elimination of land border controls is still awaited.