“It is agreed that the council should revert to the issue of Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to the Schengen area in order to adopt its decision in September,” said the statement obtained by AFP.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said late Thursday Romania and Bulgaria must receive another positive report from the EU’s Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, or CVM, in order to remove The Netherlands’ objections to the two countries joining the Schengen travel zone.
Romania and Bulgaria have accused the Netherlands of double standards for imposing criteria for Schengen accession that are not part of the formal conditions for membership. The Dutch Government has been saying that Romania and Bulgaria have not done enough to rein in organized crime and corruption, and that opening the Schengen borders to their citizens is therefore premature.