Netherlands announced its last-minute official decision regarding Bulgaria, which allows the completion of Romania's accession to Schengen, and this because the government in The Hague decided to send the country's Parliament a request to allow support for allowing the country's entry into the Schengen Area , until now there are objections vis-à-vis this.
Netherlands has legislation that requires the country's government to ask the Parliament for an opinion on decisions of this kind, but the interim prime minister of Bulgaria says that even if the parliamentarians' consent is not given, the government in The Hague will anyway approve the country's accession, thus completing the accession Romania in Schengen will also be possible.
The Netherlands has blocked Bulgaria's accession to Schengen for over 10 years, and since Romania's accession to Schengen was linked to that of the Bulgarians, we were also kept in place, but this veto should be lifted on December 12, including that of Austria, so that both countries can enter the Schengen Area as soon as possible.
"My Dutch counterpart just called me and told me that the Dutch government has agreed to Bulgaria's accession to Schengen. The next step is a procedure in their parliament. Even if their Parliament disagrees, which is unlikely, the government there can continue. Step by step, we are getting closer to December 12.
The infrastructure should be adapted to the new circumstances, if we are accepted. We believe we will be ready on January 1st for the new pass system. There will still be controls at the Bulgarian-Romanian border. This will also apply to the Romanian-Hungarian border for six months, so it is not exclusive to Bulgaria."
