site.btaForeign Ministry Keen on Obtaining Schengen Entry Decision This Year

The Foreign Ministry continues its active talks with the EU partners and maintains very close cooperation with the European Commission, which is fully supportive of the process of Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen border-free area, Deputy Foreign Minister and Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kostadin Kodzhabashev said at the ministry's weekly briefing on Thursday. He said Bulgaria's accession to Schengen is a priority for the country's caretaker government.

"We are in the middle of very active dialogue with the Netherlands, including at the highest level," Kodzhabashev said. He noted that Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov will join a November 27-29 high-level roundtable in The Hague which will discuss the fight against corruption.

The Foreign Ministry's unceasing effort is aimed to obtain by the end of this year a decision for Bulgaria to accede to Schengen. Kodzhabashev pointed out that the matter is on the agenda of the EU Justice and Internal Affairs Council on December 8 and 9. Then, EU leaders will gather on December 15-16 for their regular meeting and it is not unlikely that they will discuss the issue.

The Spokesman recalled that the conclusions in the report of an October 12-13 expert mission to Bulgaria "clearly point to the lack of any problems in implementing Schengen law and firmly state that the country meets all Schengen accession criteria." Experts from 12 EU member states, including Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden, took part in the visit. An additional mission to check compliance with Schengen law was carried out on November 16-17. According to early information, the results were positive again, confirming Bulgaria's preparedness to join Schengen.

"The Schengen accession criteria are set in the Schengen Evaluation and Monitoring Mechanism, they are not related to the rule of law," Kodzhabashev said. "Although the two topics are formally unrelated, we are aware that the rule of law is important to the member states in formulating their final positions on Schengen. The Foreign Ministry will keep our EU partners informed, working in close coordination with the Justice Ministry, which is the competent authority as regards this country's progress in the field of the rule of law."