site.btaEC: Bulgaria, Romania Meet the Criteria for Entry in Schengen

EC: Bulgaria, Romania Meet the Criteria for Entry in Schengen

Brussels, September 10 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) -
The European Commission's position is that both Bulgaria and
Romania fulfill the criteria to become members of the Schengen
area, European Commission Spokesperson Natasha Bertaud told a
news conference here Thursday in reply to a question.

"This is now not a decision for the Commission, this is a
political decision that needs to be taken by the Council of the
EU and the European Council," she specified.
***
Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva commented that the
discussion on migrants should be used for Bulgaria's entry in
the Schengen area as a way of increasing Europe's security as
well, instead of having this country pushed into the EU's
periphery.

"This is the way Romania raised the issue. A decision should be
made this autumn, while the borders could be abolished at a
later date. We will need time to plan our new borders with new
means of protection," said Kuneva.

The leader of the Bulgaria for the Citizens Movement, who was in
 the southeastern town of Yambol for a roundtable on
anti-corruption policies, also said that the EU needs a common
policy on asylum seekers because an individual approach of every
 single country would be definitely against Bulgaria's
interests, given that there are 1.5 million migrants in
neighbouring Turkey. The EU's common policy should seek to ease
the situation in the countries with larger numbers of migrants
and should come up with a clear position on refugees and on
economic migrants.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova
voiced the opposite opinion on Thursday, saying that Bulgaria
should not link its Schengen entry to migrants, but should work
on both subjects, defending its principled positions.

Talking to journalists in the south central city of Plovdiv,
Buchvarova said Bulgaria should make sure it not only takes in
migrants but conducts an integration policy as well. This
includes educating children and meeting all needs. "We have an
experience which is good enough to do this planning," she said.

Asked if Bulgaria has been allocated too large a number of
migrants, Buchvarova said it should be seen first if the
extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council of the EU on
Monday would approve this approach.