Brussels, 14/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, speaking in Sofia on Thursday, gave his backing to Bulgaria's attempts to join the Schengen area, AFP reports. Their attempts are still being thwarted by Finland and the Netherlands. Barroso said in a meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov that “having Bulgaria in Schengen” was “a matter of fairness”.
“That is why I want to say to the Bulgarian people that the European Commission supports your objective of being able to travel freely within the European area, and we will continue to work to try to remove the political obstacles that remain in two member states”, he added.
EU home affairs ministers, in Brussels on 22 September, did not come to a decision on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the passport-free Schengen area, the Netherlands and Finland having indicated their reservations as to the progress made by the two countries on tackling corruption. The European Commission will publish a report in July 2012, the date that the Netherlands has always argued a decision should be taken.
On Thursday, the European Parliament once again called on the Council to consider this issue as quickly as possible and to provide Bulgaria and Romania, which have fulfilled all the technical criteria for accession, with the necessary guarantees. Since the EP resolution is non-binding, there could be discussion on the sidelines of the European Council on 23 October as Borissov and his Romanian counterpart Emil Boc have stated their intention to bring the matter up at that meeting. (SP/transl.rt)