The Working Group on Schengen Matters (Sch-Eval) at the Council of EU has unanimously approved Tuesday the report on Bulgaria's technical preparedness to join the borderless zone.

The information was announced by the Bulgarian Ambassador at the European Union, Boyko Kotsev, cited by the BTA news agency.

Kotsev explained the experts did not have any additional questions for Bulgaria regarding technical preparedness after the initial approval of the report, adding the French representative had asked several questions Tuesday, and had received thorough answers.

The decision brings to a final conclusion the technical stage of the assessment of Bulgaria. The next step is to reach the unanimous political approval of the EU ministers of interior and foreign affairs, which, Kotsev points out, will happen by the end of the year.

The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso is quoted saying the decision for the enlargement of the Schengen Zone fully belongs to the EU Member States in a reply to a question coming from the Member of the European Parliament from the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, Iliyana Yotova.

Bulgaria's and Romania's Schengen entry has been facing political opposition by key EU Member States such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands, whose governments have demanded that the Balkan states' accession to the border-free zone be made conditional on their post-EU accession monitoring, the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism – EC reports issued each July on problem areas such as organized crime and judicial reform, which are technically unrelated to the Schengen criteria.

Barroso reiterated Tuesday, EC has no role in the process and there is no legal connection between Schengen and the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.

The entire European Parliament will hold its plenary vote on Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen readiness on June 7, but the decision is not mandatory, and rather informative.

On Monday, Bulgaria and Romania's bid to join the Schengen border-free area was given green light by the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament but Bulgaria, together with Greece, has been urged to watch out for illegal migrants on its border with Turkey.

While Bulgaria and Romania have missed the original deadline of joining Schengen in March 2011, and are still hoping to join before the end of 2011, it remains unclear when and under what conditions western EU states will lift their political objections and/or how the recent French and Italian initiative to modify border control rules, caused by the influx of North African immigrants, might change the nature of the Schengen Agreement.