The Council of the European Union will decide how to vote on the issue of Schengen enlargement, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Wednesday at a press conference presenting the European Commission's (EC) positive assessment of the admission of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia to the European area without border checks.
She clarified that, to the best of her knowledge, two votes are being prepared - one for Bulgaria and Romania and a second one for Croatia. Johansson said that since Tuesday, Dutch representatives have undertaken further verification of Bulgaria and Romania's readiness for accession. She added that Wednesday's entirely positive assessment by the EC, which calls for the three countries to be accepted without delay, is supported by the two Swedish representatives who participated in the Europe-wide check in Bulgaria and Romania in October.
The Commissioner said that the most recent inspection concerns data protection and visa issues, which will further help to answer any remaining questions from some countries.
According to her, it is not true that the Dutch parliament has called for a veto (over the admission of Bulgaria and Romania - ed.), and additional data have been requested. From the EC's point of view, all the data is already available. Johansson said that the EC is ready to provide everything that can be additionally requested by the EU countries.
She pointed out that if a positive decision is taken in the EU Council, this would be a historic step. The EU is ready to welcome the three Schengen countries and they are ready to join. The wait has been very long, expectations are high, the Commissioner concluded.
/YV/
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