Bulgaria President Vows to Push for Schengen Support

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev met Herman Van Rompuy on Thursday during his trip to Brussels, the Bulgarian leader's first visit abroad since assuming office last Sunday.

Rompuy expressed satisfaction at Bulgaria's Schengen progress and reiterated that the EU institutions are in favour of Bulgaria and Romania's swift accession to the Schengen zone.

He said that he will include the matter in the agenda of the March European Council, should a political agreement fail to materialize before then.

For his part, the Bulgarian President said he has "not excluded" the possibility of making an official trip to the Hague to try to convince the Dutch government to change its position.

Earlier in the day Plevneliev received similiar assurances from European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Martin Schultz, who said that the Parliament is currently working on its third resolution in support of Bulgarian and Romanian membership.

Romania and Bulgaria had hoped to join Europe's borderless zone in March 2011.

But their bids encountered resistance from some powerful Schengen members, including France, The Netherlands and Germany.

Opponents of their entry said that the two countries had not yet met EU requirements on fighting corruption and on securing their external borders.

The Netherlands is the only country still opposing the proposed Bulgarian and Romanian phased-in Schengen accession, after Finland retracted its obstruction in November.

The Schengen zone currently comprises 25 European countries within which people can travel without passports or border checks.