Bulgaria and Romania could join Schengen soon

dnevnik.bg, 24.03.2011, 04:30 PM

Bulgaria and Romania will be part of the passport-free Schengen area very soon, this is the general trend and it is quite clear, German foreign ministry state secretary Werner Hoyer told journalists in Berlin.

The two countries have made efforts to comply with the Schengen requirements and have the ambition to meet all the criteria by the end of the Hungarian European Union presidency in June 2011, but there are still doubts whether this will happen within the deadlines, he said.

Hoyer considers that Bulgaria should focus on the control of its Turkish border, while Romania needs to pay attention to corruption in the entire system.

"I expect the European Commission to publish its report in June, and according to the draft text, it will be positive. I therefore hope that by the end of 2011 there will be an outcome, no matter whether the accession will take place at once or in stages," according to Hoyer.

Both the European Commission and Berlin are aware that the two countries have made considerable investments to enter the Schengen area, he added.