site.btaBulgarian Interior Minister Buchvarova: "All EU Member States Must Have Equal Access to EU Information Security, Border Control Systems"

Bulgarian Interior Minister Buchvarova:
"All EU Member States Must Have Equal Access
to EU Information Security, Border Control Systems"


Luxembourg, April 21 (BTA) - "We should all be able to make full use of the new centralized EU Entry/Exit System," Bulgarian Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova said, addressing a EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting here on Thursday, quoted by her Ministry in a press release.

The new system is part of the Smart Borders Package, intended to enhance external border management, internal security and the fight against terrorism and organized crime.

"At this point, Bulgaria and some other Member States are unable to take full advantage of important EU systems even though, at the same time, countries like Bulgaria daily safeguard the security of one of the EU's most important and sensitive borders," Buchvarova said further on. As a case in point, she cited the EU Visa Information System which her country cannot use to the fullest extent because it does not issue Schengen visas.

The Bulgarian Interior Minister conferred with James Brokenshire, Minister for Security and Immigration at the UK Home Office. They discussed the implementation of the EU-Turkey statement, its implications for the development of migration processes in the Balkans and the future of the Common European Asylum System. Buchvarova stressed the fine cooperation with Turkey in border security, control and migration flow management. She described the forthcoming signing between Bulgaria and Turkey of an Implementing Protocol to the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement as "an important step to a more effective regulation of migration waves".

Buchvarova and Brokenshire also considered the measures to fight human trafficking and the strengthening of information exchange on the whole trafficking networks chain. PK/LG//