The Bulgarian Prime Minister, Nikolaï Denkov, called for his country and Romania to be rapidly admitted to the Schengen area of free movement of people, on Wednesday 22 November, during an address to the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
“Bulgaria meets all the criteria for joining the Schengen area. Any delay is discouraging for the public”, said Mr Denkov to a packed hemicycle. In his view, the reintroduction of border controls by certain Member States, which they justify as a means of combating legal immigration, is “not a sufficient reason to refuse Bulgaria and Romania entry” to the Schengen area.
Mr Denkov also said that the European Union’s external borders would be “better protected” if Romania and Bulgaria were part of the Schengen area. On European migration policy, he said that the EU could not take in “an unlimited number” of migrants, who would take time to integrate.
In July, the European Parliament voted in favour of Bulgaria and Romania joining the Schengen area at the end of 2023 (see EUROPE 13221/4), after the European Council had decided otherwise at the end of 2022.
Enlargement. Stressing the benefits for his country of joining the EU at the beginning of 2007, particularly in terms of respect for the Rule of law, Mr Denkov said he was in favour of a member country joining the EU when it meets all the accession criteria. “The time has come to start EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, and I hope that Georgia will join them”, he stressed, convinced that all the enlargements had made the Union “more powerful”.
Finally, Mr Denkov condemned Russian “propaganda”, which attempts to divide Bulgarian citizens into pro-Russian and Euro-Atlanticists. He urged Europeans not to become weary and to continue to support Ukraine, whose struggle is also that of the EU. Advocating closer military cooperation within NATO, he said that “the question of creating a common army (should) be discussed”.
Bulgaria aims to adopt the single currency in 2025 (see EUROPE 13125/28).
To see Mr Denkov’s speech (in Bulgarian): https://aeur.eu/f/9oc (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)