26.10.2023
"You have our full support for Schengen. All requirements for accession to the Schengen area have been met.” This is what the Vice President of the European Commission Věra Jourová said to Prime Minister Acad. Nikolai Denkov in Brussels. She recalled that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, upholds the same position.
Věra Jourová highly appreciated Bulgaria’s efforts to protect the European Union’s external border. In hеr view, this should be taken into account by the other member states. The Commission expects Dutch experts to visit the Bulgarian border area within the upcoming mission in November.
Věra Jourová noted as a great positive aspect the termination of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) for Bulgaria. From now onwards, Bulgaria and Romania will be monitored along with all other member states on the basis of objective criteria under the EU Annual Rule of Law Mechanism.
The Prime Minister informed the Commission’s Vice President about the government’s priorities on which the cabinet is working hard. Věra Jourová congratulated Acad. Nikolai Denkov on the political will to pass the anticorruption legislation and the forthcoming amendments to the Constitution.
The Prime Minister will present Bulgaria’s reasons for its accession to the Schengen area at the meeting of the European Council in Belgium’s capital today and tomorrow. “Everyone sees and we hear comments from all quarters that the changes in the legislation move at a pace that meets the most optimistic expectations and that their quality is good enough and conforms to the expectations and requirements of the European Commission, the Venice Commission and the Basel Institute. So we are making progress,” the Prime Minister stressed for journalists today. The reforms that the government is carrying out are important not just for the country’s accession to Schengen. “These changes are needed for the sake of the Bulgarians. We want a better Judiciary and stronger protection of the border, and we will have them,” Acad. Nikolai Denkov said firmly.
