Bulgaria and Romania were both criticised for corruption and failure to implement administrative reforms.
"There are no reservations, as we had with Bulgaria and Romania, " Ms Merkel said.
The MEPs backed Mr Coelho's call for the zone to be extended to Bulgaria and Romania.
The severe weather is also affecting neighbouring Bulgaria and Romania, where six people have reportedly died.
The EU also has the power to suspend Europe-wide recognition of court judgments in Bulgaria and Romania.
Giving Bulgaria and Romania a timetable for admission would help avoid more trouble in an already troubled area.
Croatia is set to become the first country to join since Bulgaria and Romania did so in 2007.
Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania were hit hard, but the gas freeze also affected Germany, France and Italy.
Farther east, a different strand of far-right thinking dominates in countries like Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, he said.
France, the UK and six other EU countries have maintained labour market barriers for workers from Bulgaria and Romania.
After the entry of Bulgaria and Romania, the union has 27 members, compared with 15 when the constitution-writing game began.
Farther east, a different strand of far-right thinking dominates in countries such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, he said.
Next year Bulgaria and Romania will enjoy the same rights as other EU member states in the European labour market.
Senior ministerial advisors and high-level dignitaries representing Albania, Bulgaria and Romania also spoke, as did the ambassadors of Greece and Turkey.
Bulgaria and Romania are the perennial laggards of the old Warsaw Pact.
Similar temporary barriers were imposed when Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007, but many of these have now disappeared too.
If Croatia fails this hurdle, it could fall behind Bulgaria and Romania, and it might even have to wait for such laggards as Serbia.
Mr Vaz wrote in the Sunday Express that "fringe parties" must not fill a vacuum over fears about new arrivals from Bulgaria and Romania next year.
Indeed Russia, by 2009, was substantially wealthier on a per-capita basis than countries like Bulgaria and Romania that it had been poorer than a decade earlier.
The UK must not be a "soft touch" for migrants, including those looking to come from Bulgaria and Romania in the future, minister Mark Harper has said.
Of these, Latvia, Malta and Slovakia are fast closing in on the leaders, Lithuania is moving a little more slowly, while Bulgaria and Romania are lagging well behind.
Socialist MEPs from Bulgaria and Romania have sent a letter to EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, voicing concern about possible UK moves to keep restrictions in place.
Even Bulgaria and Romania, which have signed accession treaties, could find the doors bolted at the last moment the French parliament still has to ratify Bulgarian and Romanian membership.
The Netherlands has previously voted to delay the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen, arguing that both countries need to step up measures against corruption and organised crime.
It has taken over Emporiki's assets in Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, leading to speculation that it is preparing a full exit from the country if Greece leaves the euro.
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In the UK, the governing Conservative Party is considering ways to limit immigration from Bulgaria and Romania when EU labour market restrictions are removed for the two countries next year.
Speaking to police officers in Chester last week, Mr Reid talked of the need to "manage migration carefully", particularly in relation to Bulgaria and Romania, widely expected to join the EU on 1 January 2007.
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Coming mainly from Bulgaria and Romania, they have the right to enter France without a visa but, under special rules, they must have work or residency permits if they wish to stay longer than three months.
The region covers EU countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, as well as Turkey and ex-Soviet Union countries including Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and was described by Romanian MEP Ioan Pascu as a "gate to and from Europe".
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