Bulgaria, Romania were denied Schengen entry until 2013

The Netherlands and Finland have vetoed the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the visa-free Schengen Area at the meeting of the EU Interior Ministers in Brussels today.

The Netherlands had formally decided to veto Bulgaria and Romania’s Schengen accession at the end of last week, and Finland did so on Wednesday. They used their legal powers at today’s meeting to veto the Schengen Agreement bids from Bulgaria and Romania.

“The Netherlands and Finland remain the only two EU states which did not support today the proposal for Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area. They failed to provide a logical explanation for their position,” Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov stated after the meeting of the Interior Ministers in Brussels.