Brussels, 28/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Enlargement of the Schengen area to include Bulgaria and Romania is expected to be discussed again during the meeting of EU heads of state and government on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 March. The debate, however, is not expected to bring any good news for Sofia and Bucharest, notwithstanding any surprises, due to the Dutch veto.
Over the past few days, the EU27 intended to provide a specific chapter focusing on the subject in the European Council conclusions but unless there is a U-turn made by the Netherlands, this chapter is expected to be limited to underlining member states' commitments to completing this dossier as soon as possible. Last December, member states had agreed to reach a solution as soon as possible (and if possible at the March Council) but with two days to go until this meeting, the solution still appears unlikely.
The position of the Netherlands and Finland remains unchanged. Since last September they have been opposed to the Polish Presidency compromise suggesting a two-phase entry of Bulgaria and Romania: the first stage at the end of March 2012 and the second in July of the same year. Nonetheless, the decision is subject to the efforts made by the two candidates in tackling corruption and introducing legal reforms. These reforms will be evaluated by the Commission in its cooperation and verification mechanism (CVM) report. The Netherlands has been saying for months that it would like to wait until the CVM report is published in July to give its opinion on this enlargement. An initial interim report, published in February, was judged insufficient by the Dutch government, particularly with regard to what appeared a more positive outcome for Romania than for Bulgaria
The two countries were initially expected to join the free movement area in March 2011 but a number of countries, including Germany and France, said that they wanted to link their decision more to the results of the Commission's CVM reports. France and Germany have since come to support a two-phase accession, like Finland, with the Netherlands thus remaining the last country to convince. According to one source, it is up to the Netherlands therefore to introduce an appropriate formula that can help unblock this dossier “because we are not going to change a compromise that is deemed good by everybody else just for one country”, especially for a government whose hands are tied by its nationalist ally, the PVV party of Geert Wilders. (SP/transl.fl)