PM: Bulgaria Meets Schengen Criteria, That's That!

All EU leaders have acknowledged that Bulgaria has met criteria for Schengen accession and the matter need not be commented further, according to Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov.

Borisov was commenting at a press conference the delay in Bulgaria's and Romania's scheduled entry into Schengen, following meeting Romnian PM Victor Ponta and participating at the EPP summit in Bucharest.

"I do not even bring up the Schengen topic, for all have agreed that Bulgaria has fulfilled the criteria. So I consider it below my dignity to comment further," said a resolute Borisov.

"We are doing our work in safeguarding the EU's external border. So it is not honest and just on the part of some actors to block our Schengen entry," added he.

Although EU leaders have agreed that Bulgaria and Romania meet Schengen criteria, individual countries such as France and the Netherlands have said they would at this stage veto the accession based on unrelated alleged concerns with corruption and organized crime.

During their meeting Thursday, Romania's PM Victor Ponta and Bulgaria's PM Borisov agreed to work together to overcome those hurdles.

Later Thursday the two PMs are off to Brussels to participate in the European Council.