Norway has opposed the enlargement of the free Schengen zone and the accession of Romania and Bulgaria.

The news was reported Friday by the Russian Radiovesti, cited by the Bulgarian news agency Focus.

Oslo has said that there was a growing discontent even among common Norwegians regarding the prospective of Bulgaria and Romania joining Schengen, thus membership should be denied, otherwise the free area will be overrun by a new crime wave.

According to data of Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the EU, dangerous Bulgarian and Romanian gangs operate in 15 Member States.

An NGO in Oslo has started a petition against Bulgaria's and Romania's Schengen membership, after the authorities dismantled an illegal immigrant tent camp of 200 Bulgarian and Romanian Roma. The move was prompted by an avalanche of complaints from local people about piles of thrash and filth and danger of the spreading of diseases.

The two countries Schengen membership is to be debated once again in the fall.

The European Commission has considered Bulgaria and Romania ready to join the Schengen borderless area since 2010, but their bid has been blocked by a number of older EU members, led by the Netherlands, on grounds of poor border controls, corruption and lack of progress under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.