European Parliament Committee: Romania, Bulgaria Ready To Join Schengen

05.03.2011 By Gavrila Oana

Romania and Bulgaria’s bid to join the Schengen border-free area won the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee's green light on Monday, the EP said in a press release Monday.

Based on the two countries' evaluation reports on their preparations, MEPs have established Romania and Bulgaria have met the necessary conditions to join the Schengen area.

However, the European Parliament must be kept informed of additional measures to be taken in the Bulgaria-Turkey-Greece area to cope with a possible surge in migration pressure, the release adds.

After considering evaluations of the two member states' progress and the findings of follow-up visits by expert teams, the Civil Liberties Committee concluded that although some remaining issues will require regular reporting and further attention in the future, they do not constitute an obstacle to full Schengen membership for Romania and Bulgaria.

"Are these two countries ready to enter Schengen? My answer is clearly yes. And this is clear in all the evaluation reports and it is clear from the visit we carried out. In some areas these two countries are even better prepared than some countries who are already Schengen members", said Civil Liberties Committee rapporteur Carlos Coelho.

"Some of these preparations result from the circumstance that investments have been carried out recently, they now have more updated, more modern, and more effective equipment in place. And it is also because of political investment: both of these countries have invested politically in order to prove that they complied with all the Schengen criteria", Coelho added.

Coelho also stressed the need to acknowledge that illegal migration makes Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece one of the EU's most sensitive external border areas. This means Bulgaria must take some additional measures, including a special action plan to be implemented when it joins Schengen and working out a common approach with Greece and Turkey to coping with a possible surge in migration pressure.

The committee believes that, before the end of 2011, the EU should set a date for applying the Schengen acquis to Bulgaria and Romania, the release also stated.