Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said that on Monday and Tuesday he will visit The Hague together with Foreign Minister Nikolai Milkov, where they will hold bilateral meetings regarding Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area.
He spoke to journalists before the start of the meeting of the Interior and Justice Ministers in Brussels.
The program also includes meetings with the Minister of the Interior of the Netherlands, the country that is most categorically opposed to Bulgaria joining the free movement zone.
“Whatever happens, it will happen before December 8”said Minister Demerdzhiev, referring to the meeting of the Council for Justice and Internal Order scheduled for that date.
Today he held preliminary talks with the Austrian Minister of the Interior, the representative of Sweden and the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson.
When asked by Horizon about the objections of Sweden’s second-biggest party to Bulgaria’s entry, he replied:
“Neither Austria nor Sweden have expressed definitive positions against our accession at the moment, but they have their own demands: they need information, they need time, they need debate. We need a decision from the competent authorities in Sweden, in this case from Parliament. So we are working, we are positive and we must make the most of our time until December 8.”.
The Netherlands does not present specific reservations at the moment, but it will wait for the report of the EU mission of the inspection at the external borders, Minister Demerdzhiev said, recalling that it was positive.
To protect the external borders, Bulgaria will request financial assistance, as well as assistance from FRONTEX and the forces of member countries.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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