Romania Rules Out Decoupling from Bulgaria for Schengen

Traian Basescu has repeatedly defended the coupling with Bulgaria, his main argument being that Romania's accession to the Schengen zone on its own will require massive investments of money and efforts. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Romania does not want to be decoupled from Bulgaria and will not bow to additional conditions on its way to the borderless Schengen Area, its president has said, asserting his stand so far.

"Romania does not want to be decoupled from Bulgaria. But neither shall we accept additional conditions for our Schengen entry, this is just out of the question," Traian Basescu announced on Friday.

The statement comes a day after the EU's presidency confirmed that Romania is ready to join Schengen, but cannot, since Bulgaria is not well prepared yet.

"There is legislation, which deals with the requirements for joining Schengen. We have met those requirements. We are looking forward to the assessment of our achievements and we hope it will be positive," the Romanian president added.

He stressed that the Romanian government's next step will depend entirely on the new check along the Bulgarian borders, due at the end of March.

"Only after that we can start discussing a new schedule."

This is the second time this month that Traian Basescu speaks in defense of the package with Bulgaria, his main argument being that Romania's accession to the Schengen zone on its own will require massive amounts of money and efforts in order to secure its border with Bulgaria under the standards for an external Schengen border.

As the countries have been expected to join Schengen together, Basescu says a decoupling will mean a very big and pointless investment since both Bulgaria and Romania will eventually become part of the Schengen Area.

According to the last report of the Working Party for Schengen Matters, Bulgaria has covered the Schengen Accession criteria as far as the implementation of the Information System and the Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry ( SIS/SIRENE is concerned, but it has to put additional efforts into dealing with its Turkish border.

As Sofia and Bucharest are highly unlikely to be decoupled for their Schengen accession, this basically leaves both countries hoping to be admitted in October.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!