The Russian government spreads propaganda in Bulgaria that portrays Bulgarians as second-class EU citizens. With our accession into Schengen, this will change," stated Finance Minister Asen Vassilev in an interview with the daily Die Welt.
Vassilev argues that the lack of border controls in Bulgaria and Romania is economically detrimental to Western and Central Europe.
The upcoming internal border with Romania is a bottleneck for the 4,000 vehicles that transit the Bulgarian-Turkish border every day en route to Western Europe. According to Vassilev, stated by BNR, this increases the cost of transporting products.
The EU needs to create a system to evaluate the labour it requires and to legally accept migrants, the finance minister said.
Asen Vasilev also told Die Welt that the 20% tax on Russian gas transit through Bulgaria will diminish Gazprom's earnings and increase supply costs, making it unprofitable for countries like Austria and Hungary to buy Russian gas. /BGNES
