France Disagrees with Hungary, Opposes Bulgaria's Schengen Entry
Bulgaria in EU | January 7, 2011, Friday // 09:10| views
Laurent Wauquiez, French Secretary of State for European Affairs. Photo by Wikipedia
Constituting Schengen's external border is a vast responsibility which France doubts Bulgaria and Romania are capable of taking at the present moment.
This was stated by Laurent Wauquiez, French Secretary of State for European Affairs said Thursday before French pundits.
"France has no principal arguments again Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen entry, but once they are prepared," he pointed out.
"The external borders of the new Schengen countries will be the external borders of France," Laurent Wauquiez said. In his opinion, the European Union is preoccupied with enlargement and does not pay enough attention to security issues.
Thus, he opposed Hungaria's Interior Minister Sandor Pinter who stated on Thursday that Hungaria's EU Presidency does not support the postponement of Bulgaria's and Romania's Schengen accession until after October.
In December France together with Germany vowed to veto the entry of Bulgaria and Romania based on concerns that relate not to the legally mandated criteria, but rather to issues with corruption and crime that are dealt with by the so-called Co-operation and Verification Mechanism set up for the two EU newcomers
However, at the end of December, the European Commission confirmed its position against tying Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen zone entry with additional clauses and with the post-accession progress monitoring.
Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen fate is expected to be decided on March 27 2011.
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