Finland Reiterates: Bulgaria, Romania Not Ready for Schengen Yet

It is too early for Bulgaria and Romania to join Schengen, the Finnish Ambassador to Romania, Ulla Marianna Vaisto, has declared.

Finland wants to see more progress in the anti-corruption fight undergone by the two states, Vaisto stated in an interview for RFI Romania. " The Schengen file will be sorted out", the Finnish diplomat assured.

"Let us say that we do not oppose Romania's accession to Schengen,but a decision taken now is premature. We do not say that Romania and Bulgaria should not be in Schengen, only it will take longer,according to our opinion," Vaisto said.

"We are aware that Romania and Bulgaria made much progress  regarding the technical criteria, which were practically accomplished, but we would like to see more progress as regards the anti-corruption fight and some improvements in the judicial system, in the functioning of judicial institutions. Only then, Romania and Bulgaria would be prepared to enter Schengen," she added.

On Thursday, the EU Council for Justice and Home Affairs decided to put off the membership of the two Balkan EU newcomers 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.

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.

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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