Bulgarian PM Denkov: We've made huge progress on Schengen membership

"We have made huge progress with regard to Schengen membership," Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told France24.
"There were discussions about Schengen. Even public ones, like the proposal to drop air borders at airports. But together with the Romanian president, we think we should go further. The main obstacles to our economies, including for Austria, are land borders."
Denkov also commented on the proposal to accept migrants from other countries, which Austria presented.
"The Austrian government, in my opinion, refers to the agreements in the EU, according to which migrants registered in Bulgaria must be returned. This applies to all members, it is not new.'
According to Denkov, there are slight concerns about Schengen after the elections in the Netherlands, but they would not be an obstacle because Bulgaria implements or is in the process of implementing all recommendations.
"There is a slight concern, but Bulgaria is implementing all the recommendations, we are even changing the constitution. I expect positive results."
BGNES reminds that today the Dutch government supported Bulgaria's accession to Schengen. Parliament is yet to vote on this decision.
The Prime Minister also commented on the sanctions against Russia and the situation with the Lukoil oil company.
"Bulgaria implements all sanctions. The problem with Lukoil is not only a Bulgarian problem, but a European, even global one. For example, it is not difficult to avoid sanctions by changing tankers. There is no violation of the sanctions as they are in place, there are simply loopholes in them that the Kremlin is exploiting.”
He also talked about the historic moment between the EU and Ukraine, specifically the situation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who blocked a package of 50 billion euros in aid to Kyiv.
"It was a historic moment, I doubt anyone would want to be remembered for blocking such a decision."
Commenting on Bulgaria's aid to Ukraine, Denkov added that the President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev is delaying this process. /BGNES