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Added on the 09/02/2011 07:52:50 - Copyright : France 24 EN
The European Commission has urged member states to accept the three candidates in the passport-free area.
The war in Ukraine has accelerated the need for Brussels to stabilise its eastern borders.
Romanian truck drivers waiting in line at the Giurgiu border crossing into Bulgaria express their frustration over the country’s continued non-Schengen status. The EU has approved Croatia as the newest member of the border check-free zone from next month, but Austria and the Netherlands blocked Romania and Bulgaria from joining.
The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, congratulates Croatia on joining Europe's border check-free Schengen area but expresses disappointment after accession bids by Bulgaria and Romania were blocked in an EU ministers' meeting."You deserve to be full members of Schengen, you deserve to have access to the free movement in the Schengen area," she says. SOUNDBITE
Austria on Thursday said it will veto the EU's two poorest members Romania and Bulgaria joining the bloc's Schengen visa-free zone, dashing their decade-long bid. Decisions on Schengen enlargement have to be taken unanimously. The EU ministers were expected to approve Croatia joining Schengen, which would expand the area to include 23 of the EU's 27 member states, plus Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Armen Georgian tells us more.
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