A meeting of EU Ministers of Interior was held in Brussels on Thursday. The Hungarian delegation was led by Minister of State Károly Kontrát. The Ministers reached no conclusion in connection with Romania's and Bulgaria’s joining the Schengen region, since the German party declared that it would veto any affirmative decision. The decision has already been postponed on several occasions.
According to the Ministers they will be unable to return to the topic before December, due to the fact that the two countries in question need to have at least two positive evaluations from the Council of the European Union concerning the prerequisites before they can join the Schengen region.
Germany and some other Western European countries, e.g. the Netherlands, Austria, or non-Schengen Great Britain, mentioned the insufficient level of the fight against corruption and organized crime in Romania and Bulgaria when it came to the risks of admitting these countries into the Schengen zone. According to the German Minister of Interior, Hans-Peter Friedrich, the possibility of third country refugees who reside illegally in Romania or Bulgaria being able to move freely within the whole EU region is a serious danger. Friedrich did not deny that he is also worried about the numerous Romanian and Bulgarian citizens who might appear in Germany to escape poverty and in order to exploit the country's still-generous social benefits.
Romania and Bulgaria can only join the Schengen region together, since that was the starting point during their joint preparation. Also, the facilities that are able to provide the increased monitoring that is needed at the outer borders of the region have not been constructed on the shared Romanian-Bulgarian border. Both countries have already met the necessary technical requirements; their applications must however be approved by the government of every EU member state. In the past few days, the Romanian party has expressed that if they will not be accepted into the Schengen region now, they will no longer treat the issue as a priority in Bucharest.
Hungary has consistently supported the idea of expanding the Schengen region and the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in recent years.
At the meeting, the Schengen Information System, also known as SIS II, was also discussed. The aim of the system is to keep electronic records of wanted criminals and vehicles that can be easily accessed by those who guard the outer borders of the region. Following several technical issues and postponements, SIS II is expected to begin operating on 9th April.
(MTI, Ministry of Interior)
