Hongaars voorzitterschap: Roemenië en Bulgarije klaar voor toetreding tot Schengen-gebied (en)

The Hungarian Presidency announced at the European Parliament’s meeting in Strasbourg, on 7 June 2011, that the Council will probably return to the matter of the Schengen accession of Bulgaria and Romania as early as September. The Presidency has submitted the draft Conclusions on the completion of the evaluation process to the JHA Council meeting on June 9, Minister of State for EU Affairs, Eniko Gyori stated.

Eniko Gyori reminded the Parliament that only the very last step - adopting the decision of the Council, based on a unanimous political agreement - will be left.

Very significant steps

The Minister of State was happy to find that Bulgaria and Romania have successfully finalised the technical preparations required for all evaluated areas of the Schengen acquis. Ms Gyori praised that both Bulgaria and Romania have taken very significant steps to bring their countries’ policy and practice up to the standards required by Schengen. This includes areas such as data protection, police cooperation, controlling of air, sea and land borders, and the appropriate implementation of the SIS and SIRENE functions.

Ms Gyori indicated that the 9 June meeting of the Home Affairs Council is going to adopt conclusions on the completion of evaluation of the technical preparations of Romania and Bulgaria. She declared that the Council will continue to monitor the progress regarding the steps taken to remedy remaining shortcomings. Primarily, this applies to border control, cross-border police cooperation and procedures for issuing visas.

In her speech Eniko Gyori highlighted that the enlargement of the Schengen area has consistently been a high priority for the Hungarian Presidency.

Ms Gyori declared that the Hungarian Presidency is convinced that the enlargement of the Schengen area with Bulgaria and Romania would be beneficial for the entire Schengen cooperation and for Europe.