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Bulgaria and Romania have not yet achieved sufficient progress in order to receive the endorsement of the Netherlands for joining the Schengen zone.
The announcement was made by Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, Thursday after a meeting with the newly-elected President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.
The news was reported by the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR.
In his statement Rutte reiterated once again that his government is not against the two countries joining the free zone, but wants absolute guarantees they will be applying the Schengen criteria. He explained that The Hague wants to see positive reports of the European Commission under the Verification and Monitoring Mechanism as evidence and a fact Bulgaria and Romania are doing everything necessary.
"This has not yet happened. There is some progress, but it is not sufficient," the Dutch PM insisted.
Schulz, on his part, had voiced EP's firm support for Schengen enlargement and stressed that Bulgaria and Romania had fulfilled all existing requirements and must not be imposed additional ones.
The EP President further expressed discontent from the launch of a xenophobic website in the Netherlands for people to file complaints against those from Eastern Europe, to which Rutte replied that this was in no way an initiative of his cabinet and he would refrain from commenting on all actions of the site's creator – the nationalist Freedom Party.
It is expected that the EP will once again issue a recommendation for the two countries' joining of Schengen as it did at the end of 2011. The Dutch, however, are keeping their veto, at least until the publication of the EC summer report on justice and internal affairs.
Bulgaria and Romania were expected to enter Schengen in the spring of 2011, but their entry was blocked by countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, who had worries that problems with organized crime and corruption might jeopardize safety in the Schengen Area.
Currently, only the Netherlands remains firmly against the two country's phased-in Schengen accession.
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