France and Germany oppose Bulgaria and Romania's accession to Schengen zone

France and Germany have sent a joint letter to the EU on Tuesday saying they consider it to be "premature" that Bulgaria and Romania join Europe's border-free Schengen area in March and urged more progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime, EUobserver reported.

The move was slammed as "an act of discrimination" by Bucharest.

French interior minister Brice Hortefeux and his German counterpart, Thomas de Maiziere, raised their objections in a joint letter to the EU commission, according to AFP.

The ministers said it was "premature" to let the two countries join Schengen in March - the current date aimed for by the two countries - and recommended that the EU wait for "irreversible progress" in the fight against corruption and organised crime instead.
Back in Berlin, a spokesman for Germany's interior ministry said that lack of progress by Romania and Bulgaria in reforming their judiciary could have "grave consequences for the European Union's security" and raised concerns about an "overly swift" adhesion to the Schengen area, AP reported.

In reaction to the letter, Romanian President Traian Basescu said that this was "an act of discrimination against Romania" which his country would not tolerate, even as it comes from "EU's most powerful countries."

In practice, however, there is little Bucharest can do, as the decision has to be agreed unanimously among Schengen members - 22 EU states plus Norway, Switzerland and Iceland - meaning that France and Germany have veto powers.

A more compliant Bulgarian foreign ministry spokeswoman meanwhile said that her country would "do the utmost to remove any doubts, including in the areas of the judicial system and society as a whole."

The two newcomers had so far painfully tried to avoid a linkage between a unique EU monitoring system put in place after they joined the bloc in 2007 and evaluating their fight against crime and corruption with their bid to become members of the border-free area.
So far, the EU commission had maintained that the two processes are not linked, that Schengen enlargement has its own evaluation system, but has also conceded that it is "a matter of trust" from other states in the area who will depend on the newcomers to secure their common border.

Experts evaluating the preparedness of the two have in fact so far given a green light, with a final report due in January.