President Rumen Radev told Bulgarian journalists in Brussels before the start of the second day of the European Council meeting on Friday that he had a very in-depth, second conversation with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on the issue of Bulgaria's accession to Schengen.
The head of State noted that Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala made a firm commitment in December for the Czech EU Council presidency to work on all procedural mechanisms so that a solution to this issue could be sought. “The elections in the Netherlands are in the spring. This is a difficult topic, but the Netherlands is already on its own, that is the most important thing,” Radev said.
President Radev said that in the European Parliament, fifteen MEPs from the Netherlands voted in favour and only four were against the new resolution calling for Bulgaria and Romania to be accepted in Schengen by the end of the year. This clearly shows that Bulgaria and Romania are becoming hostage to the domestic politics in the Netherlands and this will not last long, according to Radev. “The most important thing is that we have a positive result from the inspection, and that all countries are now behind Bulgaria. It is important to have this support, it will lead to a real result,” he summarised.
In his words, further clarification is needed on what it means for Bulgaria to stand with blocked borders in times of economic crisis. Right now the fast movement of people, goods, services and capital is important for Bulgaria’s economy, for the economy of Europe, and this obstruction is unnecessary, according to Radev.
The Parliament in The Hague adopted on Thursday a resolution for Bulgaria and Romania not to be admitted to Schengen.
On the occasion of the decisions adopted by the European Council in the field of energy in the wee hours on Friday, the President noted that it was difficult to find common ground. In his words, the most important thing is that there is a decision that common gas purchases in the EU should be on a voluntary basis. Bulgaria makes sure that its interest is not harmed in any way, Radev added.
“The caretaker government will not raise the issue of domestic consumers going to the free electricity market. I hope the next regular government will not do so either,” Radev said.
The President pointed out that he could hand over a mandate to form a government when there were structured parliamentary groups in the National Assembly. “I expect the MPs to do their duty to the Bulgarian citizens and to the state and to form a parliament. There are many problems to be solved. Many laws are pending,” he said. In his words, the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council, the Inspectorate of the Supreme Judicial Council, the Constitutional Court and the National Bank is incomplete, and some of these institutions are working on expired mandates because previous parliaments have not fulfilled their duties. Radev warned that if this continues, the entire state may be blocked.
The BTA correspondent in Brussels Nikolay Jeliazkov contributed to this story
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