Germany and France are unfair, but right to entangle Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen entry with their corruption and crime combat, according to the Financial Times.

"Sofia and Bucharest protest that they are close to fulfilling the technical Schengen criteria and that it is unfair to link the two processes – Schengen and CVM. It may well be unfair; it is nonetheless right," the Financial Times wrote in an editorial in its latest issue.

"The rashness of admitting the two countries to the EU unreformed must not be compounded by discarding the best reform incentive. The CVM benchmarks also bear straightforwardly on the credibility of Sofia's and Bucharest's Schengen readiness," it says.

The article points out that the French and German case is legitimate; but it is not made entirely in good faith.

"Electoral concerns motivate both governments – German regional elections are imminent; the French pick a president in 2012. Schengen accession would protect Roma citizens of the new members from the grotesque xenophobia they have experienced from the French state."

In a letter sent at the end of last year to the European Commission, German and French interior ministers said Romania and Bulgaria must make "irreversible progress" in terms of CVM monitoring before they can enter Schengen, referring to the so-called Co-operation and Verification Mechanism, through which Brussels monitors the progress the two countries are making in justice and home affairs.

When the two countries joined the EU, in 2007, persistent corruption and insufficient reforms of their jutice systems determined the set-up of an unprecedented monitoring mechanism, which so far led to the freezing of some EUR 500 M in Bulgaria due to fraud associated with EU funds.

Despite assurances made by the government in Sofia that Bulgaria will be fully qualified for Schengen accession by March 2011, it is virtually impossible that Bulgaria and Romania will be approved for entry according to the original deadline.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has recently mentioned he hoped that Bulgaria will make it into Schengen by the end of 2011, which appears to be a more plausible timeline.

FULL TEXT of FT article READ HERE

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