Bulgaria and Romania Reiterate Calls to EU for Their Accession to Schengen Zone
Such comments came from Bulgaria’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kostadin Kodzhabashev, AtoZSerwisPlus.Ro reports.
“It turns out that joining is not so much a technical question but rather a political one that needs full consensus. The ambition of the interim cabinet is to use this open door in full and for our country, if possible, to become a full-fledged member at the end of the year,” Kodzhabashev pointed out in this regard, as reported by Bloomberg.
Recently, the Prime Minister of Romania, Nicolae Ciuca, expressed his hope that Romania would become part of the borderless area of Schengen before the end of this year, stressing that the country has met all the needed requirements.
Romania’s PM emphasized the fact that the country’s accession to the Schengen zone would eliminate all lengthy waits at the country’s borders with other EU countries and also attract a larger number of international visitors.
In addition, Brussels will also abolish a regime that monitors Romania’s progress in reforming its judiciary and stamping out corruption following years of criticism from the EU executive, Ciuca stressed.
“Everything we have done since the conflict started shows that we are prepared to become a member of Schengen. We do expect all the other EU leaders to recognize everything we did,” Ciuca added.
Recently, the Commission of the EU urged the European Council to adopt the decisions to permit Romania, Bulgaria, as well as Croatia’s accession to the Schengen zone.
Such comments from the Commission came, following the State of Schengen report of this year, while this was the first time that such a report was introduced by the Commission.
According to the report, the three countries mentioned above have met all the requirements needed in order to become members of the Schengen area. Besides, the report stressed that the same would also apply to Cyprus once it completes the Schengen evaluation process.
Despite the fact that the Commission of the EU has required the accession of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia into the passport-free zone, the process has not been finalized yet.
Regarding the issue, previously, EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner, Ylva Johansson, added that the Schengen area should be completed by allowing the three Balkan countries mentioned above to join Schengen.
