Bulgaria's Interior Minister Predicts Stalemate on Schengen until March 2013

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has said that the political decision for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen is likely to come no earlier than March 2013.

Tsvetanov, who is in Brussels to take part in the last meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council under the Cypriot EU Presidency, explained that the Schengen bids of Bulgaria and Romania would not be discussed because of the lack of sufficient progress since the last meeting in October.

He told a correspondent of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) that the first regular meeting under the Irish EU Presidency had been scheduled in March 2013.

Tsvetanov refused to cite concrete deadlines until the publication of the EC report on Romania under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.

He said he had no expectations about progress during the informal ministerial meeting in January 2013 under the Irish Presidency, adding that such decisions were not made at informal meetings.

"I hope that the Schengen topic will make it onto the agenda of the first meeting under the Irish Presidency...I hope that the Netherlands will change its stance...I also hope and I wish that the report on Romania comes out positive, which will open the perspective for such a political decision," Bulgaria's Interior Minister stated.