The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister for Schengen: A hard-won but well-deserved victory for Bulgaria

Bulgaria's accession to Schengen with the lifting of air and sea border controls at the end of March 2024 is a huge step forward after 12 years of negotiations and six months of hard work by the government and the National Assembly. It happened, despite all obstacles, prejudices, skepticism, huge geopolitical and domestic political interests. This is stated in a joint statement of Prime Minister Academician Nikolay Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabriel, distributed by the government press office.

As of the end of March 2024, air and sea border controls with Schengen countries will be abolished, the EU announced after a unanimous vote by the Council of the European Union late on Saturday, December 30, 2023. Earlier in the day, Austria lifted its veto on acceptance of Bulgaria and Romania in Schengen, and a week before that, the Dutch parliament lifted its long-standing veto against Bulgaria, the government press service recalled.

"This is a hard-won but well-deserved victory for Bulgaria. Because while we were convincing the countries that were stopping us on the way to Schengen, we took those important steps that guarantee us a better quality of life here - in Bulgaria. We ranked first in the world in fastest progress in the justice system - and this has reversed the position of the Netherlands, which has held us back for so many years," the statement said.

The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister note that "this progress is extremely important, because we cannot live well and feel fulfilled if all Bulgarians are not equal before the law and do not deal with corruption".

"We reliably defend the borders of the European Union, because these are our borders too - and this ultimately reversed Austria's position as well."

Acad. Denkov and Maria Gabriel point out that this success was achieved "despite the hostile political environment and the boom of disinformation, which has an impact on the whole of Europe - and also affected the subject of Schengen".

"Contrary to the fake news spread in recent days, there are no new conditions related to the number of migrants from Syria and Afghanistan that Bulgaria and Romania will register and accept as Schengen member states. We will continue, as before, to apply the conditions from the Dublin agreement. Bulgaria does not and cannot accept persons for whom it is not responsible. And these are the facts that are indisputable," emphasized the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister.

The two first representatives of the government indicate that "in March we will become part of the millions of European citizens who fly and sail freely". "Tens of thousands of Bulgarian citizens will take advantage of this opportunity every month after March. This is also a breakthrough for business, tourism, and culture in Bulgaria, where many obstacles are being removed and new opportunities are opening up."

Academician Denkov and Maria Gabriel express confidence that "it is only a matter of time before the political processes in Europe lead to the abolition of land border controls as well - for the benefit of European citizens, of which we are also a part".

The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister give credit for the achieved breakthrough to the Bulgarian citizens, to their will "to have a working government and a working parliament".

"That's why we thank everyone who spared no effort to achieve huge progress on Bulgaria's path to Schengen even after the first 6 months. We continue to work with even greater conviction that we belong to this community."

The statement of Academician Nikolay Denkov and Maria Gabriel ends with a wish for happy New Year holidays and an even more successful New Year 2024 for the Bulgarian citizens