English.news.cn 2011-04-19
SOFIA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria would join the Schengen area, but France needs more time to be convinced of its readiness, French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said here on Monday.
"Accession to Schengen requires a number of conditions to be completed -- from technical preparedness and general behavior, to tackling crime and corruption," Gueant told a joint press conference with his Bulgarian counterpart Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.
The officials would try to talk about these conditions in the coming weeks, Gueant said.
France was confident that the technical assessment for Bulgaria would be positive, but a political assessment would take place as well, Gueant added.
He said France believed that Bulgaria was called upon to join the Schengen area and had to do it.
Last December France and Germany decided to block Romania and Bulgaria from joining Europe's border-free Schengen area in the first half of 2011, claiming that the two eastern countries failed to fulfill some of the objectives undertaken as part of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism regarding corruption, justice and the fight against organized crime.
Editor: yan
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.