site.btaInterior Ministries of Romania, Bulgaria Discuss Schengen, Migration, Danube Bridge Traffic

A video-conference was held between representatives of the Ministries of Interior of Romania and Bulgaria, the Romanian Interior Ministry reported Wednesday. 

The meeting took place under the coordination of Bogdan Despescu, State Secretary for Law and Order and Public Safety, and Miroslav Rashkov, Acting Secretary General and Director of the National Police Directorate General. The event was part of a Romanian-Bulgarian programme of measures and activities to achieve the common goal of abolishing controls at internal land borders in the context of the two countries' Schengen area membership.

The discussions highlighted the cooperation between the operative structures of the two Interior Ministries and the need for real time exchange of information and organization of joint border patrols, including through cooperation at the EU level, in the framework of Europol and Eurojust.

The sides considered joint actions to control irregular migration. 

Regarding the facilitation of traffic across the Romanian-Bulgarian border, the delegations agreed to pay more attention to two-way road traffic, especially via the Danube River border crossing between Giurgiu and Ruse, in the context of the Danube Bridge renovation works. Depending on the situation, the sides will make adjustments to the number of road workers and traffic regulation measures.