On Thursday 18 April in Sofia, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, and the Romanian Minister of the Interior, Marian-Catalin Predoiu, together with the acting Bulgarian Minister of the Interior, Kalin Stoyanov, announced a bilateral protocol amending the agreement on cross-border police cooperation between the two countries.
This comes against the backdrop of the partial entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen area on 31 March, with the lifting of air and sea border controls.
“Schengen is not just a bilateral issue between Romania and Bulgaria; Schengen is a European project. Last year we took an important step forward. We need to continue with the second stage, with the land borders in 2024. Both countries are ready for this”, commented the Romanian minister.
“This is a great moment to celebrate, but we are not satisfied because we still need the decision to lift controls at their land borders”, commented the Commissioner at a joint press briefing.
“These two countries, Bulgaria and Romania, are in fact better prepared to fulfil the Schengen acquis as a whole than some other Schengen area Member States”, she added, with good protection of Schengen’s external borders, good cooperation with third countries, particularly Turkey, and an increase in returns.
Bulgaria and Romania are also “ahead of the game” in implementing the Pact on Migration and Asylum, according to Ms Johansson. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)