29.06.2023
Bulgaria offers to host experts from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, including customs officers, to monitor onsite the operations and to strengthen the security of the external border of the European Union with Türkiye. Prime Minister Acad. Nikolai Denkov extended the offer when he met individually the Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, the Federal Chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte.
Talks about the appointment of German customs officers to work on the Bulgarian-Turkish border were started by the previous regularly elected government with Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. However, the idea did not materialize as the cabinet stepped down before the completion of its term in office and the caretaker government that was appointed did not carry on. Now the offer for joint border management is extended to include experts from three other countries. “We need both expertise and direct support in the handling of the huge volumes of cargo via Bulgaria, especially after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine,” Acad. Denkov explained.
“As to the appointment of customs officers from other European countries, it is now up to the Ministries of Finance to agree on the details and move the process forward,” said Bulgaria’s Finance Minister Assen Vassilev who joined the discussion with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In the Prime Minister’s view, the involvement of European experts in the border guard is part of the solution to the problem of our partners’ trust in Bulgaria that is currently the main obstacle to Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen. Alongside, work will proceed to form, together with Europol, a European coordinating center to be stationed in Bulgaria to focus on countering the organized trafficking in human beings.
At his bilateral meetings, the Prime Minister spoke about the pilot project that is intended to strengthen the Bulgarian-Turkish border security to be implemented jointly with several countries, the Netherlands and Austria included. Acad. Denkov described the progress made in the passage of Schengen-related legislation.
In Brussels, the Prime Minister emphasized Türkiye’s important role in the limitation of illicit migration as he spoke to the media. He announced his intention to start talks on this issue with his Turkish partners as soon as possible.
The discussion with Germany’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz touched, inter alia, the issue of the negotiations of the Republic of North Macedonia about its membership in the European Union. Bulgaria reiterated its position that it expects to see the fulfilment of the conditions as agreed and adopted with the conclusions of the Council of the European Union in 2022, the negotiation framework and the bilateral records of the meetings of the Intergovernmental Commission under Art. 12 of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation of 2017. The enactment of amendments to the Constitution of our southwest neighbor would be a good start towards that.
