People checks at internal land and sea borders between Croatia and other Schengen zone countries will be abolished from January 1, 2023, according to an EU Council decision of December 8, 2022.
Checks at internal air borders will be abolished from March 26, 2023, given the need to coordinate with International Air Transport Association (IATA) timetable dates, Brussels explained the decision, under which Croatia became the 27th member of the Schengen area and its rules now apply to the country.
“I am very pleased that during the Czech Presidency (of the EU Council in the second half of 2022 – IF-U) Croatia was able to take two important steps in its European integration by joining both the euro area and the Schengen area. I am confident that these successes will pave the way for other member states that fulfill the conditions to take the next step in their European advancement,” said Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakušan, announcing the EU Council decision.
At the same time, the applications of Bulgaria and Romania to join the free movement zone remained unsatisfied.
Commenting on this situation, the Czech Interior Minister assured: “Both I and my colleagues will continue to work hard so that we can welcome Bulgaria and Romania to the family of the Schengen area in the near future.
According to Western media reports, Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen zone was opposed by Austria and the Netherlands, and Romania’s accession was opposed by Austria.
Agreement on the gradual abandonment of border control was signed June 14, 1985 in the Luxembourg village of Schengen, where the borders of Luxembourg, France and Germany, the representatives of five countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France and Germany. The Schengen area began its existence on March 26, 1995 when border and customs controls were abolished at the internal borders of these countries which had by then been joined also by Spain and Portugal.
Due to the further increase in the number of Schengen countries, the agreement with its legal framework was included from 1999 into the unified community legislation (Treaty of Amsterdam). After Croatia joined the Schengen Area, there are 23 EU states and four European Free Trade Association countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
De facto, without the conclusion of formal agreements, the dwarf states of Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino joined the Schengen rules.
Croatia became the 27th member of the Schengen Area on Thursday following a decision in Brussels by the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, French newspaper Le Figaro announced.
The decision, the newspaper reported, citing the Czech presidency of the EU Council, will take effect on January 1, 2023.
At the same time, the media noted, the application of Bulgaria and Romania to join the free movement zone still remained unsatisfied.
The Schengen zone began its existence in March 1995, when border controls were abolished at the internal borders between the seven states: Belgium, Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and France.
The leaders of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia have supported the “Grain from Ukraine” initiative announced by the president of Ukraine and announced further efforts to increase existing and create new transit corridors for the export of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products.
“Since the beginning of the war, 8.4 million tons of grains and oilseeds from Ukraine have been transited (through Romania) to consumers in the world. We expect transit exports from Ukraine to increase in the coming months,” Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said in a video message at the international food security summit in Kiev on Saturday.
He noted that Romania has acted very strongly in support of Ukrainian grain exports through Romanian ports and will continue working to increase connectivity between the countries by land and rail, including the recent opening of a new border crossing.
Ciuche also stressed that Romania has and will not back down from supporting Ukraine and Moldova in the energy sphere. “We will not allow Russia to plunge the region into darkness,” he said.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said at the summit that Bulgaria has managed to transport about 200,000 tons of grain from Ukraine across the Danube in recent months, and the country intends to continue this transportation project.
“Unfortunately, the loss of power in Ukrainian ports due to Russian shelling has made this process difficult for Bulgarian vessels,” he said.
Radev also said Bulgaria is providing fuel to Ukraine so the country can support the agricultural and transportation sectors.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrea Plenkovic also supported work on new corridors for the supply of Ukrainian products as part of the EU’s Solidarity Routes project.
“Croatia is actively joining, and will attract other ports on the Adriatic and there are opportunities for corridors along the Danube River,” said the Croatian government head.
The three leaders welcomed the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative for another 120 days, and the Bulgarian president urged the search for stable long-term solutions.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) has launched charter flights from Lviv to Al-Qassim (Saudi Arabia), the company’s press service said on Tuesday.
“On 20 June, Lviv International Airport welcomed the first SkyUp charter aircraft from Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia. It is expected that this flight will launch a number of planned flights by the airline from the Arabian Gulf countries to Ukraine,” the report said.
According to Head of the State Agency for Tourism Development Maryana Oleskiv, who is cited by SkyUp, the countries of the Arabian Gulf, together with the Central Asia region, are priority areas for the development of inbound tourism in Ukraine.
In addition, on June 20, SkyUp launched regular direct flights from Kyiv to Pula (Croatia). They will be operated on Thursdays and Sundays.
From June 23, the airline will also launch flights from Kyiv to Split, Croatia (flights will be operated on Wednesdays and Saturdays), and from June 25 – to Dubrovnik (flights will be operated on Fridays).
Direct flights to Pula are also operated by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) and Windrose Airlines, and to Split – by UIA.
As reported, Flynas Airlines (Saudi Arabia) on June 11 launched its first flight from Kyiv to Riyadh. Prior to that, Ukraine did not have regular direct flights with Saudi Arabia.
An information and analytical center of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Ukraine) has opened in Zagreb (Croatia), Ukrainian Ambassador to Croatia Vasyl Kyrylych has said.
“Together with the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, we have opened an information-analytical center of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce in Zagreb,” he said on Twitter.
According to him, the task of such a center is simple, but important and consists in quick response to the requests of Ukrainian business and assistance in contacts with Croatian partners.
On Monday, the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia decided to temporarily ban and restrict crossing the Croatian border from December 1 to December 15, 2020, the Ukrainian Embassy in Croatia said.
“The ban does not apply to citizens of Ukraine who have a valid residence permit in the EU countries and arrive in Croatia directly from the countries of the European Union that are on the green list of countries identified by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, have no signs of illness and have not been to close contact with a sick person,” the embassy said on the Facebook page on Monday. Citizens of Ukraine with a residence permit in the EU, who transited without delay through other EU countries to Croatian checkpoints, must prove at the border crossing that they were not detained in transit countries, and in this case, the ban from this decision does not apply on them.
“Other Ukrainian citizens who are sent from EU countries will be allowed to enter the Republic of Croatia upon presentation of a negative PCR test for SARS-CoV-2, taken no more than 48 hours before crossing the border (counting from the time of testing to arriving at the checkpoint), or with the mandatory passage of self-isolation before passing the appropriate PCR test in Croatia and receiving a negative result,” the embassy said.
Ukrainian citizens who permanently reside in Ukraine have the right to enter Croatia on exceptional grounds. In particular, these are medical workers, health researchers, care workers for the elderly; border guards; workers in the transport industry; diplomats, employees of international organizations, military personnel, police officers, humanitarian workers and civil protection persons in the performance of their duties; persons traveling in transit; persons traveling for study purposes; sailors; persons traveling for urgent personal or family reasons, business reasons or other economic interests.
The Ukrainian diplomatic institution said that such citizens of Ukraine as medical workers, researchers in the field of health, care workers for elderly people; sailors; persons traveling for urgent personal or family reasons, business reasons or have other economic interests will be allowed to enter Croatia if they have a negative PCR test result valid for 48 hours, or if they enter Croatia with mandatory self-isolation prior to passing the appropriate PCR test in Croatia and get negative.
“Persons traveling through Croatia must leave the country within 12 hours from the moment of entry. If there is a reason for entering Croatia, it is needed to register the intention on the website of the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs https://entercroatia.mup.hr/ and print the registration number of the application, so such confirmation will speed up the crossing of the border, but it is not an entry permit from the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs,” the embassy said.
The Ukrainian embassy said that when crossing the border and staying in Croatia, all persons are required to comply with epidemiological safety measures and general and special recommendations and instructions of the Croatian Institute of Public Health.
