Brussels, 02/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - As debate opens on how to change the way the Schengen Area operates and, in some member states, about whether new conditions need to be met by EU candidate countries, the European Parliament's civil liberties committee gave the go-ahead on Monday 2 May to Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen Area. Adopting a report by Carlos Coehlo (EPP), they said that both countries were ready to join Schengen, but this green light is accompanied by a list of improvements that still need to be made because the rapporteur asked for further efforts from Sofia to introduce an action plan on how to protect the border between Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria from excessive pressure from would-be immigrants when Bulgaria joins Schengen. The report says that the decision to let the two countries join Schengen, a decision to be made by the EU member states, and also the timing of the accession process, need to be decided this year, but Bulgaria and Romania had been hoping they could actually join Schengen in 2011. The EP will vote on the report in plenary at the start of June 2011. The EU27 interior ministers will discuss the issue on 9 and 10 June 2011 to see whether Bulgaria meets all the technical requirements. (S.P./transl.fl)