Croatian Prime Minister Plenković expressed satisfaction that Croatia’s proposal had been accepted.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković expressed satisfaction that the conclusions of the European Council meeting held on Thursday had adopted the Croatian proposal that, when new regulation on the introduction of systematic controls at the external borders are proposed, they should take into account specific situation of those countries which are preparing to enter the Schengen Area. Croatia is one of such countries, reports Jutarnji List on December 16, 2016.
“The European Council welcomes the agreement on the revised Schengen Code which introduces systematic controls for all travellers crossing the external borders of the EU, taking into account specific situation of some member states”, read the conclusions of the summit, which ended on Thursday just before midnight. The last part of the sentence – “taking into account specific situation of some member states” – has been included at the Croatian proposal.
The political agreement should be enacted by June next year with regards to the system for control of entry and exit, and by the end of next year with regards to the establishment of the European system for travel information and approval (ETIAS), in order to strengthen security checks for passengers who do not need visas for entry into the EU.
Plenković said that the purpose of Croatian proposal was that, for example, currently join border controls which exist between Croatia and Slovenia are not separated again, and that a country which is in the Schengen Area is not treated separately from those which are getting ready to join the Schengen, because this would cause additional expenses.
EU leaders ended the one-day summit at which they extend economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, reached an agreement on guarantees for the Netherlands, which should ensure the completion of the ratification of the agreement on associated membership between the EU and Ukraine, confirmed the commitment to agreement with Turkey on migration, and called for urgent opening of humanitarian corridors to Aleppo to evacuate civilians and prevent a humanitarian disaster in the Syrian city.
The leaders also agreed to accelerate work in the field of security and defence in partnership with NATO. “We are committed to increase cooperation and to allocate more funds for security and defence”, said European Council President Donald Tusk.
At the end of the official summit of 28 leaders, a short meeting of 27 EU members states without Britain took place. These meetings have become the norm after the British referendum on leaving the European Union. The leaders confirmed that the negotiations on Brexit would be led by the European Commission, with Michel Barnier as the chief negotiator.
Tusk also said that the leaders of the European institutions have been mandated to organize a summit with Turkey in the next few months to discuss the implementation of the agreement on refugees.
