site.bta Bulgarian Deputy PM Kuneva Raises Issue of Bulgaria's Accession to Schengen Area at EU General Affairs Council

Bulgarian Deputy PM Kuneva Raises Issue of Bulgaria's Accession to Schengen Area at EU General Affairs Council

Brussels, February 10 (BTA corr. Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgarian
Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva raised the issue for
Bulgaria's accession to the border-free Schengen Area at the
General Affairs Council of the European Union taking place on
Tuesday, Kuneva said, speaking to Bulgarian reporters in
Brussels. "I would like to foster a perception for urgency and
deep commitment in respect of Bulgaria's entry in the Schengen
Area, the same as when the country joined the EU in 2007,"
Kuneva said.

Approached by a reporter, Kuneva said that the arguments some EU
 member states have against the accession of Bulgaria and
Romania to the Schengen Area remain and are bound to the
Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) of the European
Commission in respect of the two countries. In Kuneva's words,
some member states believe that the CVM is not strong enough to
exert pressure for changes in Bulgaria and Romania, so that the
issue of the two countries' accession to the Schengen Area
should be used to exert this pressure. Kuneva said that while
the terror threat to Europe was not that high, the suspension of
 EU funding was used as means to exert such pressure. In her
words, it is politically unproductive not to use all
opportunities provided by the membership in the Schengen Area
for security.

"Schengen can not be a means (for exerting) pressure in times
when we are fighting terrorism," Kuneva commented. According to
her, setting obstacles for Schengen enlargement is politically
counterproductive because such pressure can not be exerted on
border countries for meeting the CVM's goals. The Deputy PM said
 she has expressed readiness for Bulgaria to receive experts
from any EU member state that wishes to send such for the
purpose of inspecting the security along Bulgaria's borders.

Commenting the fight against terrorism, discussed during
Tuesday's Council meeting, Kuneva said that Bulgaria views the
Schengen enlargement as a contribution to security. She told her
 colleagues that Bulgaria has taken measures for hindering
radicalization, for exchanging information with Europol.
Bulgaria supports the introduction of a system for exchanging
air passenger records.