Dutch Minister for European Affairs, Frans Timmermans, stated Saturday that The Netherlands is and will remain the most critical EU member state regarding Bulgaria and Romania and about how they are sticking to their respective accession agreements, reported Dutch Nis News.

"We see that the Bulgarians and Romanians have stepped up their efforts, but we continue to consider that insufficient concrete results are being booked, continued pressure is therefore important," Timmermans said.

The Netherlands continues to demand that the CVM "remains unabatedly in force" for Bulgaria and Romania. "We remain the most critical member state and at the same time, also the most involved member state, because we are unabatedly continuing our efforts to help these countries with the improvement of the constitutional state," according to Timmermans.

Timmermans continued "For the Dutch government, it is crystal-clear that if more concrete results are not booked by the final reports in June, further measures against both countries will be unavoidable. Here, after all, the credibility of the enlargement is at risk: criteria for membership apply not only before but also after accession, and it is our duty to address other member states about this, just as much as we can be addressed by them about our behaviour."

He was reacting in his statement to the interim reports published Thursday by the European Commission on the progress of Bulgaria and Romania within the framework of the EU Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).