CVM, Schengen Area accession debated during trans-border dialogue with Romanian and Bulgarian citizens

AGERPRES special correspondent Adina Panaitescu reports: The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), as well as Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen Area were debated during a trans-border dialogue with Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, held by First Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, together with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevleniev and Romanian Justice Minister Robert Cazanciuc, on Thursday in Ruse, Bulgaria.

Asked why the European Commission's reports regarding the reform of the Bulgarian judiciary are far behind those regarding Romania and how will the Commission ensure that the judiciary reform is real, the First Vice President of the European Commission said that "I can only propose that when you make draft legislation and you have amendments that you also check what the effect is of this amendment, because making a decision at the level of the European Union is so complicated (...) that when they reach the compromise they don't check what the effect is for the people in the member states." "The Commission has made a clear assessment, the Commission is very realistic, but honest about this, not linking Schengen with other subjects, and this it is up to the member states to decide on that," he added.

Within that context, Timmermans said that he does not accept a linking of the CVM reports of the two countries, wanting to evaluate Bulgaria and Romania on their own merits, but admitted the fact that Bulgaria fell behind Romania in this regard, and emphasized that "every single member state is challenged in terms of rule of law," not only Bulgaria and Romania.

"I am really encouraged by the fact that the CVM gets such strong public support both in Romania and Bulgaria", the European official added...