Strasbourg, December 15 (BTA) - In a joint position on the initiative of Bulgarian MEP Peter Kouroumbashev, all Bulgarian and Romanian members in the European Parliament urge for both counties's immediate accession of the Schengen area based on the fulfilled criteria.

The letter has been addressed to EU President Donald Tusk and the leaders of the countries which have block the two countries' Schengen entry for over six years.

The statement was adopted in Strasbourg on Monday during a joint meeting of Bulgarian and Romanian MEPs, Bulgarian Minister for EU Presidency Liliyana Pavlova and Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu.

In the joint statement the Bulgarian and Romanian MEPs recall that the European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the European Commission have established multiple times that the two countries have fulfilled the accession criteria. They underscore the economic consequences from blocking both countries from Schengen and their efforts to protect EU's external borders. The MEPs are unanimous that the introduction of new criteria during the process of accession is unacceptable,

On Wednesday, the European Parliament almost unanimously supported the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area.