The threat of terrorism and organized crime have forced the European Union on amendments to the Schengen Borders Code.
Such changes are referred as a condition for the system of freedom of movement within the Schengen area, which is one of the most visible achievements of EU integration, to be maintained in general, as reported by Jutarnji List.
According to the proposals presented by the European Commission and endorsed by the Council of Europe, all passengers entering or leaving the EU’s external borders will be registered.
So far, only those who are not citizens of the EU, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway have registered, and from now on these rules will be applied to them.
Thus, the process of crossing the border of Croatia from Serbia, BiH and Montenegro will take a little longer than before, because the border guards will not only take a look at the documents and files, but also register visitors.
As the Croatian border with Serbia, BiH and Montenegro is an external border of the EU, but towards Slovenia and Hungary represent Schengen external border, after the new measures come into force they could slow down the crossing of the border.
Therefore, both Croatia and Slovenia asked for a more flexible approach at the EU summit in Brussels, in order to find a solution that would not lead to a significant slowdown of traffic and flow of goods and people.
As a measure to strengthen the control system was introduced Ethias system, according to which persons who are not EU citizens must register in the system in advance via the Internet, announce the arrival in the EU, pay 5 EUR for registration and then they can travel to EU countries within 5 years. It is crucial that services in the EU know who goes in and out of the Union.
The idea is that, if passengers register on the Croatian border, they do not have to be registered on Slovenian border as well, it is enough to do it only once. Croatia certainly aspires to get the membership in the Schengen area, which would make the problem disappear at least at the Croatian borders with Hungary and Slovenia, while Croatia should register all persons that are entering from the territory of its southern neighbors on behalf of the whole EU.
(Source: fokus.ba)
