Bulgaria and Romania are set to be told by their European Union partners that they still cannot join the border-free Schengen area despite having fulfilled the technical criteria for entry, dpa quoted diplomats as saying Wednesday. The two countries - the EU's newest members - had hoped to join Schengen in March, but their bid was pushed back by a Franco-German initiative in December, based on concerns over their patchy record on law and order. On Thursday, EU interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg are set to acknowledge that Bulgaria and Romania's border controls have risen up to meet Schengen standards, but they will not set a date for their entry into the system. Ministers "will return to the question as soon as possible and at the latest in September 2011, with a view to take a decision," a diplomat said, reading from a draft EU declaration. "It is not really a blank cheque," he noted, indicating that several countries - Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Belgium - wanted to see first an EU annual report on Bulgaria and Romania's crime-fighting efforts, due in July. "If the report confirms positive developments ... member states will be more favourable towards starting a process leading to the lifting of internal borders," the diplomat said. Another EU source said even if the political green-light is given in September, Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen entry was not likely to be completed before "the spring of 2012." Hesitancy over Bulgaria and Romania comes against the backdrop of increased tensions among Schengen's existing 25 members over the handling of an influx of migrants following unrest in North Africa and the Middle East. The European Parliament - which on Wednesday approved a non-binding report in favour of entry - urged EU governments not to hold Bulgaria and Romania "hostages of populist discourse", in the words of Portuguese conservative Carlos Coelho. The EU's Home Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, said in the EU chamber Tuesday that the two countries "must be given a clear perspective, a clear framework of what is expected from them in order for the member states to welcome them into Schengen." The border-free zone currently encompasses 22 EU countries - Ireland, Britain and Cyprus are the other EU members outside it - as well as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is expected to join before the end of the year.
