Brussels, 06/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - Will Hungary stand by its pledge to achieve the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area under its presidency? Officially, there has been no change of position, but doubts are beginning to appear after comments in the German press attributed to Hungarian Home Affairs Minister Sandor Pinter, suggesting that accession might be delayed until a later date. This stance was immediately challenged by Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi, who, on Thursday, called on Hungary not to postpone matters.
On Thursday, the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers sought to defuse the situation, with spokesman in Brussels Gergely Polner talking about a “misunderstanding” and a “misinterpretation”. He said that “the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area remains a priority of the Hungarian Presidency”. There was, he said, “a legal process to be followed” and Hungary was awaiting the reports of European experts on the progress of preparations by these two countries before making any definite comment on its agenda.
These technical reports, which are still under discussion, will take stock of how far the countries have progressed in terms of judicial reform and tackling corruption and will assess the level of preparation of the two for a raft of European mechanisms, such as the Schengen Information System (SIS). The reports are expected by the middle of January and will, in part, determine whether Romania and Bulgaria join the Schengen area. The informal Justice and Home Affairs Council in Budapest on 17 January will be given over to a large extent to discussion of the reports and possible Schengen accession.
According to the timescale the Hungarian Presidency currently hopes to follow, member states will decide whether the two can join the Schengen area at the JHA Council on 24-25 February. If the decision goes for them, Romania and Bulgaria would see their accession effective from the end of March. Germany and France, however, have made it clear that they are against accession for the moment. “Even if there is no agreement among member states, we will work right to the end to get a definite decision before the end of our presidency”, Polner said.
In the meantime, the riposte from the two main parties concerned continues. After threatening to impede Croatia's accession to the EU and to withdraw from the cooperation and verification mechanism, on Wednesday Romania's MEPs warned that they might complicate institutional life for the EU by refusing to ratify the protocol that allows the 18 new MEPs provided for in the Lisbon Treaty to take their seats in the European Parliament. (Cor./transl.rt)