Romania and Bulgaria, the European Union's two newest members, were denied entry into Europe's borderless free-travel zone Thursday when EU interior ministers could not reach the necessary unanimity and decided not to hold a vote.

Poland's interior minister, Jerzy Miller, said angrily that both countries had been promised entry and had met the requirements.

"Today, the promise has been broken," Miller said. "Today, we were not confident enough to say we want to act together, not separately." Poland currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

"This leads me to rather sad conclusions about the trust between member states," Miller said.

The Bulgarian interior minister was harsher still, saying the refusal to admit the new countries undermined the EU project.

The outcome had been virtually certain before the meeting began. The Netherlands and Finland had publicly opposed admitting Romania and Bulgaria, both of which joined the European Union in 2007, saying they needed to do more to fight corruption and organized crime. Within the Schengen free-travel zone, there are no checks performed or papers required when people cross national borders.

The French and Germans had proposed a compromise: drop border checks at airports and seaports in October, but continue them on land crossings until summer 2013, based on a report to be completed by July. But that was rejected.

Ole Schroeder, secretary of state in the German interior ministry, said at a press conference that the Polish presidency had made it clear that the issue would be on the agenda when European Union heads of government hold a summit in Brussels in October.

But Dutch minister Gerd Leers said there would be little use in taking up then.

"I am telling you honestly it makes little sense, since I do not expect new information over the coming weeks ahead of the summit which will make us change our mind," he said.

The Dutch support the Schengen agreement, he said _ and are doing so by being careful. He said Bulgaria and Romania had "a great many shortcomings," primarily with respect to judicial reform, corruption and organized crime.

"For the Netherlands, we lack the trust to implement and apply the Schengen agreement," Leers said. "It always was our precondition."

The Finnish prime minister, too, cast the rejection as a protection of the Schengen open-borders agreement.

"All European countries would benefit if Bulgaria and Romania initiated programs to sort out problems that are recognized as problems, such as corruption, the shortcomings in the operations of the justice system and other problems connected to organized society. Then, after that, we could open up borders," Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen told reporters in Helsinki.

Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi reacted mildly, saying Thursday's events represented a delay not a refusal.

"The discussion remains open," he said. "Romania will try to convince the Netherlands and Finland by the next summit of the European Council in October," he told TVR Info public television station.

But Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov was more critical. He told Bulgarian National Radio from Brussels that the Dutch and Finnish representatives at the meeting said they "do not have a mandate" to support enlargement.

"This position, which is detrimental to Bulgaria and Romania, is part of the internal political agreements in the Netherlands and Finland and undermines the foundations of the EU project," he said.

The free movement of people has been one of the EU's most cherished achievements. And the dispute over it comes just as the EU's other most-cherished achievement, the euro common currency, is also under severe stress.

The borderless travel dispute threatens to turn bitter. After the Dutch announced their opposition to Romania and Bulgaria joining, Romania began blocking all flower imports from the Netherlands, saying the paperwork was not in order and the plants might contain "dangerous bacteria."

Esther de Lange, a Dutch member of the European Parliament called the move "old-school blackmail."