Bulgaria FM Blames Schengen Fiasco on Dutch, Finnish Domestic Politics, Predecessors

The postponement of Bulgaria and Romania's accession to Schengen is due to domestic politics in the Netherlands and Finland, as well as to the sloppy work of previous Bulgarian governments, according to Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikolay Mladenov.

Thursday the EU Council for Home Affairs decided to put off the membership of the two countries in the free movement area due to vetoes by the Netherlands and Finland, which expressed worries about levels of corruption and organized crime in Bulgaria and Romania.

In April, EU member states agreed that the two newcomers had met all technical criteria for Schengen entry, but France and Germany, along with the Netherlands and Finland voiced concerns about levels of corruption that would render the two countries' accession unsafe.

"Accepting Bulgaria into Schengen would have been the only fair and just option," commented Bulgaria's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikolay Mladenov Saturday.

"The EU decision was wholly due to the domestic political situation in the Netherlands and Finland, in which you have euroskeptic and anti-immigrant parties in key positions," commented Mladenov in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio.

Then he went on to partially contradict himself by putting blame on previous Bulgarian cabinets, which might have not ensured a perfect working environment for PM Boyko Borisov's team.

"If there is a Bulgarian domestic reason to be sought for the Schengen delay, it would be the improper work of the previous two governments, which let Bulgaria join the EU without a satisfactory level of countering organized crime and corruption," stated the Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Minister.

Since their accession to the EU in 2007, both Bulgaria and Romania have been put under an unprecedented so-called Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification which monitors the progress they are making in combatting crime and corruption.

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