EU experts will examine once again Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen preparedness in late April or early May, Sandor Pinter, Hungarian Minister of Interior said.

"We do plan to admit Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen. We don't know when they will join,"Pinter, who spoke after the meeting of EU's Interior Ministers Thursday, stated, as cited by the European Voice.

On Thursday, EU's Hungarian Presidency made it clear that Bulgaria is not quite ready yet for its Schengen entry, unlike fellow candidate Romania.

"Romania has finalized the technical preparations required for all evaluated areas of the Schengen acquis. Bulgaria, on the other hand, was said to have 'closed all but one' of the necessary criteria" said a statement published after the Interior Ministers' meeting.

According to the last report of the Working Party for Schengen Matters, Bulgaria has covered the Schengen Accession criteria as far as the implementation of the Information System and the Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry ( SIS/SIRENE) is concerned, but it has to put additional efforts into dealing with its Turkish border.

Early on Friday, Romanian PM Traian Basescu reiterated that decoupling the two EU newcomers for their Schengen accession will mean a very big and pointless investment since both countries will eventually become parts of the border-free zone.

This basically means Romania will now have to wait for Bulgaria to get ready.

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