A year of multiple crises is coming
to an end. Shaken by high energy prices, increasing migrant
figures, an alleged corruption scandal in the EU parliament and
the Russian war in Ukraine, the EU is entering 2023. These
problems will hardly turn around at the threshold of 2023 -
nevertheless, one EU member state has reason to celebrate.
Access to Eurozone and Schengen
Croatia is coming out of the year 2022 as a fully integrated
member of the European Union. From the beginning of next year,
the country will belong to both the Eurozone and the Schengen
area without internal border controls.
Thus, Croatia joined the club of what is now 15 countries
(Belgium, Estonia, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Spain) which are members of the most integrated
confederations on the continent - the EU, the Eurozone, the
Schengen area and NATO. Croatia is the one of those members of
these clubs that used to have a communist one-party system 30
years ago, just like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or Slovenia.
The membership of Croatia in the Eurozone and Schengen is
expected to help the country to further strengthen the economy
and enhance the standard of living for its citizens. In the
meantime, Bulgaria and Romania will still have to wait for the
accession to the Schengen zone. The other EU member states
couldn't reach the needed unanimity and decided in December 2022
to not let them enter the free travel zone together with
Croatia. Therefore, Bulgaria expects the EU to help managing the
country's external borders and hopes to join the free travel
area, along with Romania, by October 2023.
Bulgaria is also further preparing for the membership of the
Eurozone in order to introduce the euro by January 2024.
Russian war in Ukraine and energy prices
The Russian war and its repercussions are likely to continue
driving the EU's agenda in 2023. One effect is the strong rise
in energy prices in the EU. After months of debate on how to
tackle those, the Member States found a compromise in a meeting
before the end of the year. To limit excessive gas price spikes,
the EU's energy ministers agreed on a cap for the wholesale
price of gas under certain conditions. According to a press
release, the measure will come into force as of February 15,
2023.
After the meeting, its chair negotiator, Czech Industry Minister
Jozef Síkela, announced that the agreement unblocked other
legislation aimed at tackling the consequences of Russia
strongly decreasing its energy exports to the bloc.
Slovenia, however, expects the bloc to come up with effective
and sustainable solutions for overcoming the crisis by capping
market prices of gas and electricity, and securing energy
supplies for winter. Bulgaria, too, has expectations of the EU
when it comes to regulating energy prices. The energy crisis,
inflation and economic recession will continue to be a focus of
the EU in 2023.
EU's answer to the US Inflation Reduction Act
For Belgium, one of the most important issues for the beginning
of 2023 will be the response to the US Inflation Reduction Act
and the relaxation of state aid rules. These measures were
announced by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She
said on December 14 that in January the Commission would propose
new, simple rules to subsidize green technology in the European
Union.
This comes as a response to Washington's recent landmark bill
called the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). "We need to give our
answer, our European IRA," von der Leyen said.
The US legislation grants tax credits to US consumers who
purchase electric vehicles with batteries manufactured
domestically and in certain countries that have free trade
agreements with the United States. The EU and the US are major
trading partners, but have no such deal.
The European Union has criticized the US subsidies of 369
billion dollars to promote climate-friendly technologies,
fearing the erosion of the bloc's industrial base with
manufacturers relocating to the US. A joint EU-US taskforce set
up to resolve these issues has not succeeded so far.
Belgium insists that the answer has to be a joint European one.
As the country with the highest budget deficit in the European
Union, Belgium does not have the firepower to enter into a
subsidy race. The announcement of massive German subsidies to
soften the energy crisis has made the Belgian industry very
nervous.
Migration
For Slovenia, illegal migration to the bloc is a key issue which
needs to be addressed at the European level. With no immediate
solution in sight, Slovenia intends to strengthen cooperation
with its neighboring countries through regional initiatives, e.
g. with Croatia. As soon as Croatia enters the Schengen zone and
the shared border is no longer an external Schengen border,
Slovenia expects closer cooperation. The country keeps
highlighting that - in light of Austria's police checks of the
Slovenian border in 2022 - the Schengen system should become
fully operational.
As the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex announced,
some 308,000 people crossed the EU's external borders
irregularly in the first 11 months of 2022. This is an increase
of 68% compared to the same period of 2021 - and the highest
level recorded since 2016.
The Western Balkans was again "the most active migratory route
into the EU," according to the agency, which registered some
140,000 irregular crossings in the region - an increase of 152%
compared to 2021.
As a country with an enormous pressure on its asylum system,
Belgium is also expected to keep urging for more solidarity at
the EU level, the conclusion of the new European migration pact
and respect for the Dublin rules until that new pact is in
place.
Under EU law, the country where a migrant first arrives is in
charge of hosting the person and of handling asylum requests, a
policy often leading to frictions between member countries.
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