Bulgaria and Romania's entry to the Schengen Agreement depends solely on the assessment of the technical criteria, the European Commission has stated.

"I hope no political agenda gets in the way of the assessment of the technical criteria, which Bulgaria and Romania have to reach in order to join Schengen," Michele Cercone, Spokesperson for the EU Internal Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, stated.

However, the EU member states still have the last word on the two Balkan countries' potentially joining the Union's border-free zone, he underlined.

On Wednesday, France produced new arguments yesterday to support its position that Romania and Bulgaria are not ready to the join Europe's visa-free Schengen travel zone, citing poor border and immigration controls.

The Netherlands, Germany and Austria have also express their reluctance about the two Balkan countries joining the Agreement 2011, caused by the issues with the Roma migration and the faults in both states' judicial systems.

Last week, however, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi declared that Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen Agreement will be one of the priorities for Hungary's EU Presidency in the first six months of 2011.

Bulgaria submitted its formal declaration of readiness in September 2007 and sent European authorities follow-up reports, penning in March 2011 as the target date for accession to the Schengen zone.

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