site.btaEP Votes for Bulgaria's, Romania's Partial Access to Schengen Visa Information System

Brussels/Strasbourg, October 4 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The European Parliament (EP) Wednesday voted for the EU Council proposal to grant Bulgaria and Romania partial access to the Visa Information System (VIS) of the Schengen area. Once the Council adopts the decision, the two countries will be able to consult and check VIS data without the right to enter, amend or delete them.

The EP's decision is formal and prompted by the introduction of systematic checks at the EU's external borders of all persons regardless of origin. The decision is not directly related to whether Bulgaria and Romania can become part of Schengen, as the final political decision on the matter has to be taken unanimously by the Council.

In June 2011, the EP said in a legislative resolution that Bulgaria and Romania are ready to join the Schengen border check-free area, and the Council concluded that the two countries had met all the Schengen acquis conditions on air borders, land borders, police cooperation, data protection, the Schengen Information System, sea borders, and visas.