FT: Bulgaria, Romania Schengen Entry Due in Years, Not Months

A Bulgarian border policeman monitors screens as European home affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom looks on during her visit to the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing point between Bulgaria and Turkey, 11 February 2011. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Bulgaria and Romania will see their dream of joining Europe's borderless Schengen zone come true not in months, but in years, an unnamed Brussels-based diplomat told the Financial Times.

"It will be a matter of years rather than months before Romania and Bulgaria can join Schengen," the diplomat said. "Fundamentally, the trust in judicial institutions that is needed to expand Schengen to those two countries does not exist right now."

The prestigious newspaper comments that prospects for Romania and Bulgaria's bid to join the Schengen passport-free travel zone were dimming as fellow EU governments pushed for improvements in their judicial systems and a renewed fight against corruption.

Bulgaria and Romania's bid to join the Schengen border-free area was given green light by the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament a month ago.

Bulgaria, together with Greece, were urged however to watch out for illegal migrants on its border with Turkey.

According to the MEPs on the Committee, the two EU countries have met the necessary conditions to join the Schengen Agreement based on the evaluation reports on their preparations.

However, the Committee has insisted that the EP be kept informed of additional measures to be taken in the Bulgaria-Turkey-Greece area to cope with a possible surge in migration pressure.

Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen entry has also been facing political opposition by key EU member states such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Their governments have demanded that the Balkan states' accession to the border-free zone be made conditional on their post-EU accession monitoring, the so called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism reports issued each July by the European Commission on problem areas such as organized crime and judicial reform which are technically unrelated to the Schengen criteria.

While Bulgaria and Romania have missed the original deadline of joining Schengen in March 2011 but are still hoping to join before the end of 2011, it is still unclear when and under what conditions Western EU states will lift their political objections. What is more, it is still unknown if or how the recent French and Italian initiative to modify border control rules caused by the influx of North African immigrants might change the nature of the Schengen Agreement.

Under current EU rules, the key condition for joining the Schengen area is the ability to ensure the security of EU's external borders.

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