site.btaMECh Leader Concerned that Schengen Decision Will Increase Illegal Migrants in Bulgaria

The Morality, Unity, Honour (MECh) party is concerned that the Schengen decision for Bulgaria and Romania will bring about an increased number of illegal migrants . "We cannot be as happy as some other colleagues in Parliament," said MECh Radostin Vasilev Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, the Council of the EU decided that checks at the land Schengen borders of Bulgaria and Romania will be lifted from January 1, 2025.

"We are not ecstatic about that", Vasilev said. "Of course it is the fruit of long years of hard work, but at this particular historical moment we are very much worried that it [lifting of land border checks for Bulgaria and Romania] may be linked to the war in Syria and that someone wants to admit Bulgaria [to the border-free area for land travel] in haste so that we become a hub for migrants," he added.

Vasilev noted that Italy, Germany and some other countries are dropping the Schengen rules and introducing border checks. He said that at the moment GERB and Continue the Change (CC) are trading barbs over who has done more for Bulgaria's accession to Schengen while Bulgarian people don't are so excited about the matter. "It is positive for the transport business, for communications within the Union, but it is extremely worrying in terms of what comes next", Vasilev said.

The leader of MECh noted that they accept "with moderate enthusiasm" the overthrow of the regime in Syria and fear a repetition of a situation from many years ago in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Libya.