Schengen Evaluation Group Puts Off Final Decision on Bulgaria

Bulgaria in EU | January 28, 2011, Friday // 14:59|  views

Bulgaria and Romania's hopes to join the Schengen Area in March 2011 will most likely fail to materialize. Map by Wikipedia

The Schengen Area evaluation group (Sch-Eval) has postponed the adoption of two technical reports on Bulgaria, while adopting the report on Romania's Schengen accession.

The reports concerning Bulgaria's Schengen Information System and the Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry (SIS/SIRENE) and land movement were not adopted, Schengen Department chief and Romanian Interior Ministry state secretary Marian Tutilescu told the Romanian news agency Mediafax.

Tutilescu added the two reports on Bulgaria will be discussed again during the next meeting of the Schengen evaluation group.

He is quoted as saying the report evaluating Romania's technical readiness to join Schengen was adopted and stressed that France's representative dropped concerns regarding the implementation of the SIS/SIRENE system in Romania.

Tutilescu said the technical condition stage has ended and the report on Romania will be put to the vote in the European Parliament.

According to the senior Romanian official, the fact that the Schengen working group has not adopted the two reports on Bulgaria might also affect Romania, considering the two countries are supposed to join the Schengen Area together.

Mediafax points out that the evaluation report on Romania's implementation of the SIS/SIRENE system was presented in Brussels on January 14. France's representative asked for more time to study the report, which finally received a positive evaluation. On the other hand, Bulgaria received a negative evaluation concerning land borders.

On January 14, the final report of the EU experts on Bulgaria's preparedness for accession to the Schengen Agreement has concluded that the country has not met the technical criteria to join the borderless European Schengen Agreement. According to the report, Bulgaria still has trouble with the border control on its land border with Turkey.

On Friday Titulescu has reiterated the possibility considered by the Hungarian Presidency of EU for a "partial" Bulgarian and Romanian Schengen accession in March 2011.The two EU newcomers may initially enter Europe's border-free zone only with their air borders, a Romanian official stated earlier in January, pointing out the positive reports the two Balkan states have received on this component.

Hungary has already stated it will do everything possible to facilitate Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen entry during its EU presidency.

Bulgaria and Romania were originally expected to join the Schengen Agreement in March 2011.

However, in the last weeks of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, key EU member states - most notably France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Finland - have declared their opposition to the Schengen accession of the two Balkan states saying it would be premature as Bulgaria and Romania still face issues with the implementation of the Schengen requirements with respect to controlling what will become their external EU/Schengen boders.

What is more, since December 2010 the Interior Ministers of France and Germany as well as France's EU Affairs Minister Laurent Wauquiez have voiced additional criticism with respect to Bulgaria and Romania as far as the progress in their judicial reform and rule of law is concerned, and have demanded that the European Commission's post-EU accession monitoring of the two newcomers under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (most notably EC's annual progress reports expected in July) should be taken into account when deciding upon Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen fitness.

The last report of the Brussels working group on the Bulgarian and Romanian Schengen readiness has found problems in both countries - but most of all - with Bulgaria's border control along its Turkish border. This has led the Romanian government to slam Bulgaria numerous times for dragging it down since a decoupling of the two states for Schengen is unlikely as this will mean additional spending to secure their joint border.

The Schengen Evaluation Group will discuss again the reports on Bulgaria on February 14 at its final sitting. Once it adopts them, they will be referred to the EU institutions, which will make the final decision in February on whether the country can join the borderless Schengen Area in March 2011.

In spite of the assurances issued made by the government in Sofia that Bulgaria will be fully qualified for Schengen accession by March 2011, it is virtually impossible that Bulgaria and Romania will be approved for entry according to the original deadline. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has recently mentioned he hoped that Bulgaria will make it into Schengen by the end of 2011, which appears to be a more plausible timeline.

In spite of the assurances issued made by the government in Sofia that Bulgaria will be fully qualified for Schengen accession by March 2011, it is virtually impossible that Bulgaria and Romania will be approved for entry according to the original deadline. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has recently mentioned he hoped that Bulgaria will make it into Schengen by the end of 2011, which appears to be a more plausible timeline.

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Tags: Schengen, Schengen Area, Schengen Agreement, Schengen entry, Schengen Accession, border control, Turkish border, Foreign Ministry, Romania, Laurent Wauquiez, France, Germany, Finland, Schengen Evaluation Group, Working Party for Schengen Matters, Sch-Eval, marian titulescu, Mediafax

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