Brussels, 09/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Bulgaria says that it will be fully operational on Monday 14 March when it meets a mission of European experts tasked with monitoring respect for the final technical criterion that has not yet been fulfilled by Bulgaria in its quest to join the Schengen area. This involves managing its border with Turkey. The announcement was made on Tuesday 8 March by the deputy minister for home affairs, Dimitar Georgiev, who added that the integrated border management control system is “perfect”. The minister said that the system is now operational along the whole maritime border of Bulgaria and “by the end of the year, we will have the same system for our land border with Turkey”.
European experts have to carry out another inspection in Bulgaria around 21 March and the Hungarian Presidency will base its findings on these results and possibly propose Schengen member states a new accession timetable before the end of its six-month presidency. Bulgaria's failure on the border issue was one of the reasons mentioned by EU countries for postponing Bulgaria and Romania's entry into the Schengen area, which was originally planned for the end of March 2011. This decision was ratified during the JHA Council on 24 February. Some countries, such as France and Germany, have highlighted political criteria for delaying this decision on Schengen enlargement, although Romania is entirely prepared at a technical level. These two countries, as well as the Netherlands and Finland, are looking at other areas where progress has been made, particularly in the fight against corruption and legal reform. (S.P./transl.fl)