Europe denies two nations entry to travel zone

Preoccupied with fears of increased migration from the south, the European Union told its two newest members, Romania and Bulgaria, on Thursday that they would have to wait to join the bloc’s passport-free travel zone.

Related Finland and the Netherlands objected to admitting Romania and Bulgaria to an offshoot of the bloc known as the Schengen zone, whose members agree to trust one another’s border security and to allow travelers to cross their mutual frontiers without having to show a passport, like moving from state to state within the United States.

Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007, say they have met the technical standards for joining the Schengen zone, but the two objectors said that was not enough.

Source: NYTimes.com