Why should Bulgaria always be in the queue? This is what Nastimir Ananiev of the PP in the National Assembly asked Acting Prime Minister Galab Donev about refusing to be admitted to Schengen.
The President of the Council clarified that it is necessary to wait for the European Council in mid-December. And our accession to Schengen is right. In his words, we avoided the worst case scenario.
Donev again stressed that we have long been meeting the technical criteria for Schengen. Two missions from Europe confirmed our availability. No violations of the application of the Schengen law were found, it was clear from Galab Donev’s presentation. Bulgaria continues to fulfill all Schengen criteria. The EC confirmed its positive opinion and appeals to the European Council to take a historic decision, in his words.
President Rumen Radev and the Donev cabinet carried out very active foreign policy activities. Radev has sent letters to all EU leaders, and the head of state and interim prime minister have held a series of personal meetings. The Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Interior have also joined the diplomatic effort to convince the EU to join Schengen. Donev underlined that doubts are being created about the equal application of EU rules and underlined the benefits of expanding Schengen.
He does not accept the formulation of the failure of recent efforts.
Foreign policy should be a unifying factor, said GERB’s Georg Georgiev. The Schengen case has been around since 2011, he recalled, when it turned out we met the criteria. One leader of a political force strove to create a negative image of our country and gave the example of the case of “Captain Andreevo”. Georg Georgiev did not indicate the name of Kiril Petkov from the parliamentary rostrum, as Ekaterina Zaharieva did yesterday.
Every domestic policy talk is closely monitored by our foreign policy partners, Galab Donev said. The issue of the border was present in the talks, but they understood what the problem was. They were interested in what measures we have taken to control the border by the state. We are responsible in our positions and statements, insisted the Prime Minister.
Asen Vassilev stressed that there is information that there is a breach at Sofia airport and it has been established that a bomb may be introduced. Halil Letifov of DPS underlined that our country’s interest in joining Schengen is undoubted.
According to Galab Donev, national interests must be defended in all forms. The assessment of our foreign policy partners, according to Galab Donev, is that this interim government has done much more for Schengen than our other administrations. According to him, it is possible to join the zone of free movement in July 2023. The Cabinet has allocated funds to strengthen the border structure, for equipment and shoes for the “Border Police”. According to Donev, the pressure towards our border is the greatest since 2015, when there was the strongest influx towards the border.
