site.btaTaskforce to Re-organize Bulgarian Agencies in Connection with Expected Full Schengen Membership

A working group which was initially assigned to address the issue of parking facilities in border areas will be transformed into a taskforce in charge of re-organizing Bulgarian state structures in view of the country’s expected accession to Schengen by land after the country joined the border-free area by air and sea in March, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said during a visit to the Danube Bridge 2 border checkpoint at Vidin on Thursday.

Glavchev noted that ever since Bulgaria’s full Schengen membership began to seem really feasible, the country’s Border Police and all other competent national agencies have been planning their restructuring and re-organization. “It can’t be very difficult compared to so many years of strenuous efforts to enter Schengen,” the Prime Minister commented.

The abolition of internal Schengen land border controls in Bulgaria will benefit both businesses and individuals, Glavchev commented. He quoted road hauliers as complaining that not being a part of Schengen by land costs each of them an average of EUR 240 per day. He added that, according to experts, the positive effect of full membership for the national economy will be EUR 1.5 billion annually.

Glavchev confirmed reports that a relaxed form of controls on the border with Romania will be in place for six months after full accession to see how things are going and whether there is migratory pressure. “This will be done under an arrangement with Romania, Austria and Hungary, because the Budapest format will be preserved to convince them totally that no controls are necessary at all,” the Bulgarian Prime Minister said.

No controls are planned along the border with Greece, he noted.