The European Commission may soon officially announce that Croatia has met all technical criteria for accession to the Schengen Area. According to the Croatian online newspaper vecernji.hr , diplomatic sources have confirmed that the EU Commission will most likely issue an official statement in the second half of September, giving the green light to Croatia to join the Schengen area.

Recently, the Croatian officials have intensified their requests for the rest of the EU countries to recognize Croatia’s work for Schengen accession.

In a recent meeting with the outgoing President of the European Union Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that his country has done a lot to join the Schengen.

“Croatia expects to get a positive evaluation of its progress in fulfilling the criteria to access the Schengen Area before the end of this Commission’s term,” PM Plenkovic said.

On the other hand, President Juncker praised Croatia and its leadership for their achievements so far, and showed his support for the accession of the country to the borderless Schengen territory before the end of his mandate, which is November 1 this year.

“I would like us [the EU Commission] to propose Croatia’s accession to the Schengen Area under our mandate. We have lost too much time, we will have to do it. And I would like the Council of Ministers to react to it properly,” President Juncker said at the time.

Juncker is not the only one supporting Croatia to become part of the Schengen. In May, during a visit to the country, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany fully supports Croatia joining the Schengen.

“I regard Croatia’s two goals, namely joining the euro in the next period as well as joining Schengen, as very realistic,” Merkel said.

Despite Juncker’s, Merkel’s and the support of several other EU officials, many others have rejected the idea that Croatia should become part of the Schengen anytime soon. Many have in fact proposed the expulsion of some member countries.

Croatia is the last member country that joined the EU in 2013. It is one of the four EU countries that still haven’t joined the Schengen territory, alongside Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus, aside from the UK and Ireland that opted-out.