The Strategy for the Schengen Area for the first time clearly articulates the link between Croatia's membership of the Schengen Area and the EU's security, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said in Luxembourg on Tuesday.

“The debate today on the Strategy for the Schengen Area is especially significant for us because, for the first time, it has identified a clear link between Croatia’s membership of the Schengen Area and security for the EU as a whole,” Bozinovic said ahead of a meeting of the EU’s Home Affairs Council.

The interior ministers of EU member states met in Luxembourg on Tuesday for an initial discussion on the Schengen strategy that was presented by the European Commission last week.

The agenda also includes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the fight against organised crime, the internal security outlook in terms of artificial intelligence, cooperation in the fight against terrorism, and exchanging opinions on the current status in the discussion on the new migration and asylum pact.

Last week, the Commission presented the strategy towards a “stronger and more resilient” Schengen Area, which includes enlargement to EU member states that are still not part of the area, and called for Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania to be admitted into the area as they had met the technical criteria for the application of the Schengen acquis.

Bozinovic said that it was becoming more and more clear that Europe’s security was not the sum of security capacities of member states but that it was cooperation, interoperability, and solidarity.

“These are the principles that Croatia has insisted upon in European forums for years,” said Bozinovic.