site.btaEP to Adopt Declaration Urging Accession to Schengen Agreement for Bulgaria and Romania before Year's End

The European Parliament (EP) will vote Tuesday a resolution which is expected to call for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area by the end of the year. The text specifies that checks at the internal borders of the two countries should be abolished from the beginning of next year.

The EP is expected to welcome the fact that Sofia and Bucharest recently invited a new EU mission to check the state of their external borders, even though their readiness to join Schengen was already positively assessed in 2011.

The Czech Presidency of the EU Council has expressed its intention to put the issue to a vote in December.