The Bulgarian Minister of Internal Affairs, Kalin Stoianov, expressed his hopes that Bulgaria and Romania will be admitted to the Schengen Zone in December this year, stressing that the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union will do anything needed for the finalisation of this process.
According to Stoianov, a total of 160,000 illegal border crossing attempts have been prevented by authorities in Bulgaria since the beginning of this year, compared to 100,000 registered in the same period last year.
Illegal migration concerns were cited by Austria and the Netherlands as the main reason that led both countries to block the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Area in December last year. However, recent figures show that Bulgaria has intensified efforts in this regard.
Expressing his hopes that the country will get the necessary result in December this year, Minister Stoianov said that there were days in the previous month when unlawful border crossings were about 1,000 to 1,500 per day.
The Minister revealed that he will travel to Austria on October 4 to meet with his counterparts from Austria together with Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov and a Bulgarian delegation.
I believe that we are moving in the right direction, and we will do everything possible to change the position of Austria and the Netherlands regarding our admission to Schengen”, said the Bulgarian Minister of the Interior.
The Minister said that the country managed to minimise the number of apprehensions inside the state, which means that the services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are actively doing their job at the border, according to the G4 Media report.
In recent months, the percentage of Bulgarians who transport, organise and carry out logistics for illegal migrants in Bulgaria has seriously decreased.
He considered this mainly about people from Ukraine, Moldova, Poland and other countries, stressing that there are fewer and fewer Bulgarians.
However, authorities in Austria have once again emphasised that they continue to oppose the accession of these two Balkan countries in the borderless zone. Austria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously said that as long as the Schengen system does not work, there is no point in expanding it.
Last month, Romania’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, said that he would take Austria to court for vetoing the country’s accession to the Schengen Zone.
In addition, Romania previously introduced a law which was taken to the Romanian Parliament, if approved, the law would oblige the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs to vote against any project from states that opposed its membership in the visa-free travel zone.
Asked if Bulgaria would follow Romania’s example, the Minister said, “I have no way to comment on Romania’s actions”, noting that the Ministry will continue to do what it is needed as the Ministry of the Interior.
Both Bulgaria and Romania have been waiting for more than ten years now to become part of the Schengen Area; however, the process has not been finalised yet.
