site.btaHuge Majority in EP Supports New Call for Bulgaria's and Romania's Admission to Schengen Area

Brussels/Strasbourg, December 11 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - A huge majority in the European Parliament (EP) supported Tuesday a new call for allowing Bulgaria and Romania into the visa-free Schengen area. The vote in Strasbourg was attended by 659 MEPs, of whom 514 supported a report to that end, 107 were against, and 38 abstained.

The EP urges the EU Council to make an immediate decision to lift internal land, sea and air border controls for Bulgaria and Romania.

This is the fifth EP call on the subject since 2011. So far, the EU Council has not reached the unanimity that is needed for the two countries to enter the Schengen area.

The EP discussed Monday evening a report by Bulgarian MEP Sergei Stanishev (Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats) in which he blasts the EU Council for not allowing Bulgaria and Romania admission to the Schengen area.

"It is strange that no EU Council representative is present, as this is the institution the report is addressed to, despite the promise of the Austrian government that it should be on the agenda this semester," Stanishev said.

He argued that the Council has been in breach of European rules for the last seven years by not making a decision on the matter.

Stanishev described as "unfair" the attempts to couple Schengen's expansion into Bulgaria and Romania with the European Commission's Cooperation and Verification Mechanism of monitoring the two countries progress in reforming their judicial systems and combatting organized crime and corruption.

European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Tibor Navracsic, who attended the discussion, said that the European Commission supports Bulgaria's and Romania's immediate and full accession to the Schengen area.

In the subsequent statements by the parliamentary groups, Carlos Coelho from the European People's Party noted that back in 2011 the EP supported the Bulgaria's and Romania's accession to the Schengen area. Coelho said he supports full admission, adding that it is difficult to understand the discrimination against the two countries who have significant corruption, but the matter is not connected to any of the requirements for joining the Schengen area.

Emilian Pavel, from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats, said the two countries should have joined the Schengen area long ago.

Angel Djambazki from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group said that the lack of a solution so far is due to domestic problems in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. He described this as "not right, unfair, duplicitous and hypocritical".

Filiz Hyusmenova from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group pointed out that border controls affect trade. She said that the double standard is discriminatory against the citizens of both countries and they have "a bitter sense of secondary citizenship in the EU, so it is high time the Council proves that the rules are the same for everyone".