With two weeks to go until the European Union’s Justice and Home Affairs Council convenes to make a decision on Schengen enlargement, Romanian officials stepped up their lobbying efforts in order to have the country accepted into the border-free zone. After FM Teodor Baconschi earlier this week asked for support in the process from EU member states’ diplomats, Interior Minister Traian Igas presented the country’s preparations for joining Schengen in Brussels, while Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu went on a visit to the Netherlands, one of the states that blocked Romania’s accession earlier this year.

In a public debate organised by the European Parliament’s EPP group on Wednesday, both Igas and his Bulgarian counterpart Tsvetan Tsvetanov detailed their countries’ progress in view of joining Schengen, according to an EPP release quoted by Mediafax.

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