Experts from the Schengen Area evaluation committee will visit Romania from Monday to Wednesday, to assess the country's progress on air borders, after some European Union member states expressed their skepticism about Romania's capacity to join the Area in March 2011.

The experts will measure the progress on the Timisoara "Traian Vuia" Airport and the Bucharest-Otopeni "Henri Coanda" Airport. This is the only re-evaluation requested so far in the accession process. The Romanian Interior Ministry says the two airports are ready and have been brought to the proper standards.

The experts will also visit two border crossing points at Moravita, Timisoara County (western Romania). The Interior Ministry says every Schengen evaluation report so far has concluded Romania is well along in implementing the Schengen acquis and mostly prepared to join the Area. The evaluation missions began in March 2009 with an assessment of police cooperation. The second evaluation targeted the protection of personal data, followed by an assesement on  visas, while in September experts checked the security of sea borders. The experts were satisfied with Romania's progress and did not make any recommendations for re-evaluation.

The final evaluation will relate to the Schengen Information System and the Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry (SIRENE), between November and December 2010.

European countries expressed concern about Romania's management of the Schengen Area's future exterior borders. Worrying remarks by the members, who will take a political vote on the Area's enlargement, began in the summer of 2010, when French President Nicolas Sarkozy implemented a policy for the repatriation of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma.

Romania and Bulgaria are set to join the Schengen Area in March 2011, but France said it would rather wait until the next Commission report, due in the summer of 2011, to see whether the Area's integrity and security can be ensured by the prospective members.

Mediafax