Brussels, 23/08/2012 (Agence Europe) - There is little chance of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area of free movement in 2012, the German minister for the interior, Hans-Peter Friedrich, suggested at the beginning of August, saying in an interview with Rheinische Post that he was sceptical of this enlargement. “I think opening the borders to Bulgaria and Romania is impossible at this stage”, he said. In Friedrich's opinion, the two countries would indeed not be ready to join Schengen - even in a system of opening in two phases, like that discussed since the end of 2011, with a first phase of opening the air and sea borders, then the opening of land borders at a later date. This compromise had been tied up over the last few months by successive EU presidencies and it had the support of several member states, such as France and Germany. The recent events in Romania, the public spectacle of political war between Basescu and Ponta, have nevertheless raised doubts on the ability of Romania to fully satisfy the criteria demanded by the Schengen member states.
In addition to the technical requirements, the countries belonging to the area of freedom of movement are waiting for the two candidates to set an example when it comes to independence of the judiciary and respect for democratic institutions. And that, precisely, is what the Commission reproached Bucharest for in relation to the referendum on removing President Basescu from office, a referendum that was finally invalidated by the Constitutional Court on 21 August after a series of institutional episodes. On 18 July, in its report on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), the Commission had severely criticised these developments in Romania, casting a cloud over the country's chances of joining Schengen this year, as the Commission's CVM reports are in fact one of the assessment tools used by member states. (SP/transl.fl/jl)