site.btaEC Expects Council Vote in Favour of Schengen Accession of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia on Thursday

The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, expects the EU Council this coming Thursday to vote in favour of Schengen enlargement into Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. Taking a question during a news briefing in Brussels Monday, she said that Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia have been thoroughly investigated and the outcome is that they fulfill all the requirements to be part of Schengen.

"We had a recent expert mission to both Romania and Bulgaria on the request of some member states that have some further question-marks that needed to be clarified. So we sent a mission with high level experts from member states concerned to Romania and Bulgaria, and they presented a report that I presented a few weeks ago, and their assessment is that Bulgaria fulfills even more than it did the first time they were assessed. Both Romania and Bulgaria have increased the level of protection of the external border," said said.

Asked whether they have any information to justify the remark by Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, who is reported as alleging that illegal migrants could cross the Bulgarian border for a bribe of EUR 50, Commissioner Johansson said, "We have no such information at all".

The information we have for the Council on Thursday is the reports which say that Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia totally fulfill all the requirements to be full members and this is also what I expect to be the outcome of the vote on Thursday, she said.

EC Vice President Margaritas Schinas said he totally subscribed to everything Commissioner Johansson said. "It is a myth and it is unfair to project the argument that Schengen enlargement is about less controls. It is about more controls and better controls," he said.