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The Dutch Parliament has given the green light for Bulgaria and Romania's full Schengen membership

January 9, 2025

The Netherlands have officially given the green light for Bulgaria and Romania’s full Schengen membership, following a vote in the Dutch parliament which took place on Wednesday and supported this recent decision of the government, relates the news site of the Bulgarian public television, says News.ro.   On Wednesday, the Freedom party of the extremist Geert Wilders, the largest party in the Dutch government coalition, tried to introduce a parliamentary motion through which to urge the government to vote against Bulgaria and Romania’s full Schengen membership. However, this motion was rejected. The other parties in the government coalition of the country voted, similarly, against this.   For years, the Netherlands stood in the way of the two countries becoming part of the Schengen Area. They were joined in this by countries like Austria. But the previous Cabinet, who were in caretaker status at the time, changed their opinion on this last year.   They felt that Bulgaria would help better protect Europe's borders along Turkey. They also believed that Bulgaria would combat corruption and would do a good job at safeguarding the rule of law.   Austria stipulated that controls at the country's borders should remain in place, but also withdrew the latter resistance last month. All vetoes against both countries, which had been agreed to join the Schengen Area together, have thus been removed.   EU interior ministers are due to vote in Brussels on Thursday on whether Bulgaria and Romania should be fully admitted to the Schengen area. If the decision on Romania and Bulgaria's full Schengen membership is approved by the JHA Council on Thursday, land border controls between and with Romania and Bulgaria will be lifted from 1 January 2025.   However, the two countries have pledged to continue random border checks for another six months.

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