Bulgaria has fulfilled all technical criteria for membership of the Schengen area, and is expecting to join by the end of this year, said Bulgaria’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel after a meeting, in Sofia, with Croatia’s Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman. Minister Radman reaffirmed his country’s support for Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area. The visit by Minister Gordan Grlić Radman comes at the invitation of Mariya Gabriel, and is the first official visit to Bulgaria by a foreign minister of foreign affairs after the formation of the new Bulgarian government on 6 June this year, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry says.

The Croatian foreign minister also met with President Rumen Radev. A direct Sofia-Zagreb flight would contribute to the consolidation of the contacts between the citizens and businesses of the two countries, Gordan Grlić Radman and Rumen Radev noted. During their meeting, they also confirmed the support for the European integration of the Western Balkans.