“It’s time to lift internal border controls now,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson believes. In an interview with RFE/RL she said she was optimistic about Austria’s decision. Asked what the arguments are for blocking the road of the two countries to full membership, Ylva Johansson said: “Romania and Bulgaria are ready, the Schengen area is ready, so I can’t see any obstacles,” adding that she hoped this will happen before the end of her term of office in a few weeks’ time. Bulgaria and Romania are better prepared to cope with the Schengen area and the land borders than some member states, Ylva Johansson believes.
“This time there are signals and hope that all obstacles on Bulgaria and Romania’s road to the Schengen area by land will be removed,” said MEP Andrey Kovachev in Strasbourg, and added that he is expecting today’s meeting of the interior ministers of Bulgaria, Romania and Austria in Budapest with a great deal of interest. The meeting is discussing Austria’s conditions for the two countries’ full accession to the Schengen area.
On the eve of the meeting, Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said, in an interview with APA, that Bulgaria and Romania had made significant progress in the protection of the external borders and in combatting illegal migrant trafficking. "We see that these efforts are paying off, and we want to continue on this path and adopt a new package," he said.
The new conditions will include increasing the financing of the protection of the external borders and more border checks between the two countries.
A protest is taking place in Sofia to demand maximum sentences for a man and a woman who killed animals in a particularly cruel way. So far, nearly 60,000 people have signed an online petition calling for life sentences. The killings, which..
On Sunday, the minimum temperatures will be from 10 to 15°C. In Sofia, it will be around 12°C. A cold front will pass through the country. Cloudiness will be variable, often significant, and from west to east there will be short, temporarily intense..
Europe must continue to plan in a collective and coordinated manner its next steps in ensuring a just and lasting peace in Ukraine . Together with our European and transatlantic partners, Bulgaria is ready to participate in the peace and security..
A protest was held in the city of Pernik against animal abuse and for maximum sentences for two residents of the city, Gabriela Sashova..
Fourteen people injured in the nightclub fire in the Macedonian town of Kočani have been admitted for treatment in Bulgaria, Pirogov Emergency Hospital..
Stefanija Alexova, a sophomore at the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG), is one of the victims of the Kočani fire. She was born in the Macedonian..
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