Finland: Bulgarian Schengen Entry 'Takes Time'

Finland's Migration and European Affairs Minister Astrid Thors. File photo

Finland will not engage with precise deadlines for Bulgaria's Schengen accession, its Migration and European Affairs Minister Astrid Thors said on Tuesday.

Thors pointed out that Finland itself needed 6 years after its EU accession to prepare for the Schengen agreement.

"It takes time," the Minister stated.

Thors revealed that the Roma integration issue has been tackled in detail during her meeting with Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov and expressed her satisfaction over the country's progress.

Mladenov himself said he hoped that Bulgaria will successfully cover the criteria for its Schengen accession by mid-2011.

The Finnish Minister underlined that the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism on Bulgaria's justice reform is a separate process and is not related to its Schengen entry. Astrid Thors expressed a similar statement during her visit to Bulgaria's neighbor Romania on Monday.

In Bucharest, the Finnish Minister stated that Romania's potential Schengen entry depends on Bulgaria's technical assessment, which is scheduled for March.

At the end of January, Finland joined France and Germany, the Netherlands and Austria in opposing Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the Schengen zone following a decision to this effect of Finland's committee for European affairs.

Austria, The Netherlands and – most recently – Norway have also spoken reluctantly on the two states' potential soon Schengen entry.

Hungary may decide to put this issue on the agenda of the Council of Interior Ministers of the EU, due on February 24, but the decision will most probably be negative.

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