site.btaPrime Minister: Where Line for Acceptable/Unacceptable Conditions for Schengen Enlargement Will Be, Remains to Be Seen in Coming Days, Weeks

Where the line for acceptable/unacceptable conditions for Schengen enlargement will be, remains to be seen in the coming days and weeks, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said during a Q&A session on Facebook Tuesday. "We are not going to accept new conditions which are different from what is expected of the other countries," said the Bulgarian government leader. 

He said, though, that Bulgaria "is ready to accept everything that would support the protection of the external border because it is in Bulgaria's interest, too". 

Schengen enlargement has been much discussed in Bulgaria in the past couple of days after Vienna signaled a softening of its position against the accession of Bulgaria and Romania. Austria's new stance is that it would accept the two countries’ admission to Schengen for air travel provided that several conditions are met. These include strengthening the protection of the EU external border by increasing the Frontex presence and technical equipment at Bulgaria's border with Turkiye and Romania's border with Serbia; land border checks staying in place; and asylum seekers being transferred to Bulgaria and Romania.