Bulgarian government ‘must do its job’ to enter Schengen in 2023, says minister

The country can join Schengen with a caretaker or stable government, but the parliament must do its job, commented the Caretaker Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev on Sunday.

Bulgaria has been in a spiralling political crisis for the past two and a half years, during which five general elections were held. Difficulties in maintaining a stable government have led to a situation where the adoption of judicial reform, promised to the EU, has stagnated.

This is exacerbated by concerns over Bulgaria being used a transit country for irregular migration into the EU and a failure of authorities to take control of the situation.

“Since the start of the year, immigration pressure has increased by just over 40%, but illegal immigration arrests are over 45% lower. This means that fewer people are being let through at the border, even though attempts to enter illegally are on the rise,” said Demerdzhiev, pointing to successful controls at the Turkish border as 500 irregular migrants are turned away each day.

According to the minister’s predictions, one-third of the additional money allocated by the Commission for the protection of the external borders will go to Bulgaria.

“On Tuesday, we will have talks. There will be a visit from the European Commission, after which we will have full clarity on the issue (of EU funding). The total resource allocated for all external borders is about €600 million. The priority is to support guarding the Bulgarian-Turkish border,” said Demerdzhiev.

The money will be invested in buying drones and video surveillance at the border.

Last December, Austria and the Netherlands blocked Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen, while Romania was stopped by Austria. The resounding diplomatic spat sparked debate over a possible separation of Romania from Bulgaria, which the Netherlands supports.

For now, the authorities in Bucharest claim that they do not want a Schengen border along the Danube, which would affect the economic interests of both countries.

Since the start of the year, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who rules with his caretaker government, claims that Bulgaria is getting more and more support for its Schengen membership. He says that the promise is that Bulgaria will enter Schengen in October this year if the Bulgarian parliament passes the necessary laws.

The Netherlands is asking the European Commission to make another report on Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, the implementation of which was suspended three years ago by the Juncker Commission. Bulgaria accepted this request.

The Netherlands’ suspicions are that the Bulgarian authorities are not doing enough to fight corruption, which is a problem for Schengen. At the start of December, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte angered Radev with his remark that the Netherlands must be sure that the border is not crossed for €50.

Austria’s demands are practically unfulfillable, as their implementation is not entirely in the hands of Bulgaria. Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced that currently, Schengen is not functioning, and until the problems with illegal migrants are solved, no new countries should be accepted. Austria says it accepts too many unregistered irregular immigrants on the Balkan route.

(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)