Brussels, 27/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - On an official visit to Bulgaria on 25 April, the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said he was sure that Bulgaria and Romania would soon be joining the Schengen area and that agreement would be reached on this in September. He said he
was already optimistic about this before the resignation of Mark Rutte's government in the Netherlands last weekend.
At the European summit in March 2012, it was agreed that the EU27 home affairs ministers would decide on whether Romania and Bulgaria can join Schengen at the JHA Council in September 2012. The only country continuing to veto their membership is the Netherlands, which wants the two countries to do more to tackle corruption and reform their legal systems. (SP/transl.fl)