Croatia has met all conditions for entry to the Schengen area of passport-free movement and it is optimistic that the process will be completed soon, Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic said on Friday.

Bozinovic was speaking in Luxembourg, where he attended a meeting of EU ministers of the interior, who discussed the general situation in the Schengen area, with emphasis on the management of external borders. The Czech Presidency acquainted the ministers with the current situation regarding the enlargement of the Schengen area.

In addition to Croatia, which expects a final decision on its Schengen entry by the end of the year, Bulgaria and Romania, too, have been waiting for years to join the area without internal border checks.

Asked if all three countries could possibly be admitted as a package, Bozinovic said that Croatia supports Bulgaria and Romania’s entry but that he does not believe they will be admitted together.

“Each country is judged by its own achievements, and we are confident, as confirmed on a number of occasions, that we have met all the conditions for entry to Schengen,” he said.

As regards Bulgaria and Romania, there has been a proposal since 2011 to let them join the Schengen area. The two countries also have a positive opinion of the European Parliament but their entry has been blocked at the Council of the EU. More about their chances of joining Schengen with Croatia will be known when the results of an ongoing evaluation of their readiness are published on 26 October.

One of the most important topics of today’s meeting of EU ministers of the interior was a discussion about movements along the Western Balkan migration route, where this year a significant increase in the number of migrants has been recorded.

The EU has been dealing with growing migration pressure along the Western Balkan route as well as other routes. What is unusual is that at this time of the year, late in the autumn and ahead of the winter, the number of arrivals usually declines but this year it has been growing.

Also, in addition to Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, who are still the most numerous migrants, people have also been arriving from some other countries for which the Western Balkans is not a natural route. That can be ascribed to the visa policy of some countries, primarily Serbia as well as Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbia, whose citizens can travel to the EU without visas, has come under criticism because it has a visa-free regime with countries that do not recognise Kosovo like Burundi, India, Cuba and Tunisia. There have been reports of a large increase in the number of migrants arriving from those countries in Serbia, from where they continue their journey towards EU countries.

Bozinovic said that this year Croatia had registered an 87% rise in the number of illegal migrants compared to last year.

“We have very large numbers of migrants from Burundi, India, Cuba, which is something we are experiencing for the first time, not just Croatia but other EU countries as well. Those people arrive by plane most often in Belgrade from where they move on, either via Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia or via Hungary,” he said.

According to diplomatic sources, there is great determination in the EU to deal with that issue in a similar way as was done in the case of Belarus, which in the autumn of 2021 invited migrants from the Middle East and then sent them on to Poland. The pressure on Serbia and other Western Balkan countries to align their visa policies with that of the EU is therefore expected to continue growing.