On Wednesday, the European Commission announced the readiness of Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia to join the Schengen zone and proposed to the EU Council to approve this decision.
At a press conference in Brussels, EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ilva Johansson said, "The time has come for these countries to enter the Schengen area."
Since joining the EU (Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007, and Croatia in 2013), these countries have fulfilled all the conditions for joining the European visa-free area.
The EU Council should discuss the proposal of the European Commission in December. Since 2015, in the context of upheavals related to successive migrant crises in the EU (Libya, Belarus, and Ukraine), the EU's decision to admit these countries to the Schengen zone may be difficult or delayed.
