Bulgaria and Romania will not join Schengen area as it was previously planned, by the end of March, since ten more European countries beside France and Germany are against it, Sofia based daily Sega reported.

The decision will be taken in the EU Council of Interior ministers, scheduled on February 24th.

The adhesion of the two countries is out of question, Bulgaria’s evaluation report on its border security with Turkey is negative and we cannot have Romania without Bulgaria, one of the quoted diplomats declared.

According to him, Hungary, as a presiding country, could include the decision in the schedule, but it would be negative.

Hungary’s ambassador to Bulgaria, Yudith Lang, has stated for the Bulgarian National Radio that Bulgaria and Romania are making tremendous efforts to comply with the criteria for Schengen area entry, and the Hungarian EU presidency will work on reaching a political solution on this issue by the end of June this year.

Ambassador Lang also said that it was pointless to guess at any concrete dates as the results of the latest assessment mission on the progress of the two countries are unknown.

The Hungarian EU presidency is committed to solving this issue and will put all possible efforts to achieve progress, the ambassador concluded.

Commenting on the postponement of Bulgaria’s joining the Schengen area from March this year for a later period, Bulgaria’s PM Boyko Borissov has stated that this is not a failure because Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen continues to be a priority of the EU.

Currently, the Bulgarian border is guarded much better than many other national border, Borissov added and expressed his belief that if Bulgaria manages to fulfill all recommendations in the progress reports in its justice system planned for the end of February and the summer, it will be able to join the Schengen area in September.