31.12.2023
Joint statement of Prime Minister Acad. Nikolai Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel:
Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen as air and maritime internal border controls are lifted in late March 2024 is a huge step forward after twelve years of negotiations and six months of hard work by the Government and the National Assembly. The accession is a fact despite all the obstacles, prejudice, skepticism and overpowering geopolitical and domestic political interests.
It is a hard-won but well-deserved victory for Bulgaria. This is so as while we tried to persuade the countries that impeded us on the way to Schengen, we took the important steps that ensure us a better quality of life here, in Bulgaria. We placed first in the world with the speediest progress in the Judiciary and that reversed the position of the Netherlands, which had been holding us back for so many years. This progress is extremely important as we cannot live well and feel content if all Bulgarians are not equal before the law and if we are powerless to do away with corruption. We dependably protect the European Union’s borders as they are our borders too and this ultimately reversed Austria’s position as well.
We were successful despite the hostile political situation and the sweeping disinformation that impacted all Europe and entangled the Schengen question, inter alia. Contrary to the fake news disseminated in recent days, there are no new conditions relating to the number of migrants from Syria and Afghanistan that Bulgaria and Romania, as Schengen member states, will register and receive. As heretofore, Bulgaria will abide by the Dublin Regulation. Bulgaria will not and cannot take back persons of whom it is not responsible. These are the facts and they are undeniable.
In March, we will join the millions of European citizens who fly and sail freely. Dozens of thousands of Bulgarian citizens will seize this opportunity each month from March onwards. Equally, it is a breakthrough for business, tourism and culture in Bulgaria as many obstacles will be removed and new opportunities will be opened up.
All this, step by step, is to be attributed to you, the citizens of Bulgaria. Your will to have a functioning government and a functioning parliament played a crucial role in today’s breakthrough. Therefore, we thank everyone who spared no effort to enable the huge progress on Bulgaria’s path to Schengen even after the first six months.
We continue to work with greater confidence that we belong to this community.
We believe that it is only a matter of time before the political developments in Europe lead to the lifting of checks at internal land borders too, for the benefit of European citizens to whom we belong.
We wish you a happy New Year season and further success in 2024!
