In this case, Romania did a good service and pulled Bulgaria, because political instability in our country gives bad signals. This mostly destroys trust. If there is no trust in our partners, then questions and doubts arise. In this case, the effect of this withdrawal was positive for Bulgaria. This was stated in the program “120 minutes” Tsvetlin Yovchev, former Minister of the Interior and chairman of DANS.
During the week, the news came from Budapest that the Austrians are removing the last obstacle to the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. Formally, this should be done in December and start from January.
„There has been movement in the right direction in Romania for several years. Both in terms of the investments coming in, and in terms of political stability, and in terms of the rule of law. Everything gives its results“, Yovchev also commented.
„I don't think Brussels gave us a message aimed at the current situation. Our entry into Schengen is a long-awaited news. Bulgaria has been technically ready since 2011. Many efforts have been made by a number of governments. And absolutely unfairly, for political reasons, our country has been stopped in recent years. These reasons had no real explanation,” said the chairman of DANS.
Regarding Austria's additional condition, namely at least six more months of a land border between Bulgaria and Romania, Yovchev commented that the goal is to have time to work on the other measures and to ensure that there is no sudden increase of migration pressure.
„The greatest peak of migration pressure in Bulgaria was in 2013. In October we had 3,500 migrants per month. There was already a decline in November, but the level was still very high. Then the measures we took worked. I assume that certain efforts have been made in this direction”, Yovchev added.