Bulgaria has met a European Commission deadline for information on its preparations to join the Schengen visa area, while a series of inspections will take place in the first half of 2009.

Schengen is a joint visa arrangement that includes 22 European Union member states, excluding the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, but including non-EU member states Norway, Iceland and - since December 12 2008 -- Switzerland.

At a briefing for journalists at a seminar in the southern Bulgarian town of Sandanski on December 14 2008, Deputy Foreign Minister Milen Kermedchiev emphasised that on a technical level, Bulgaria's preparations for Schengen were going well.

In March 2009, inspectors would check the country's border facilities, in April checks would start at Bulgaria's Interior Ministry and in June there would be inspections of two of the country's consular facilities. Bulgaria had put forward 10 consulates for possible inspection, and the EC would choose two from this list.

Bulgaria had opened a national visa centre that met European standards, had a visa sticker that also met the required technical standards, and had an electronic visa project already implemented in part on an experimental basis in five countries. From 2009, this would be extended to consulates in all other countries.

Earlier in December, a report by the Open Society Institute warned that, while Bulgaria was well-placed to meet all technical criteria to join Schengen, there could be a reluctance to admit the country to the scheme because of Bulgaria's continuing shortcomings against organised crime and corruption.

Within Bulgarian Government circles, there are also concerns about the scale of the cost of joining Schengen, and efficiency in the use of funds to do so.

Meanwhile, the name of Bulgaria was involved in a separate Schengen potential controversy. Switzerland has been told by the EU that if there is a negative result in the February 8 2009 referendum in the Alpine country on agreeing to free movement of persons provisions for Bulgarians and Romanians, Brussels may tell Bern that it will have to leave the Schengen area.

According to a report by Bulgarian National Radio on December 13, EU ambassador to Bern Michael Reiterer said that the EU has 27 member states, just like Switzerland has 26 cantons and that there was no room for speculation or playing against the clock.

Should the majority of Swiss vote"no" then Switzerland's participation in Schengen would be called into question, Reiterer said.