Travelers line up to get their passports at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport. [Henrik Montgomery/EPA]
The negative attitude of the Netherlands and the position of Sweden may lead to the decoupling of Bulgaria and Romania in terms of Schengen membership, EURACTIV Bulgaria has learned from the resources in Sofia and the EU institutions.
People close to the matter say EU leaders will most likely back the admission of Croatia and Romania in December, while Bulgaria will stay out of it, which would be a major political blow to Sofia.
The political process is most motivated by the apathy of the parties represented in parliament, which are basically involved with the rewriting of the country’s electoral law, as well as the absence of a solid government in Sofia and the upcoming elections.
Bulgaria’s main parties seem to have no interest in the interim government achieving primary political good fortune as Schengen membership, which has proven to be a task for 3 normal Borisov governments, EURACTIV resources said.
The Schengen club would be a political asset for the interim government of President Rumen Radev, which is also considered through the Bulgarian Socialist Party, whose leader, Kornelia Ninova, disagrees with Radev.
The main European political families have no one to give Sofia a political gift from the political crisis and the lack of a normal cabinet.
On 16th November the European Commission requested the deferred Schengen admission of Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria.
Bulgaria and Romania met the accession criteria several years ago, even before Croatia joined the EU in 2013. However, the enlargement of Schengen is by consensus of its members, and this has not yet been achieved.
On 18th October MEPs endorsed the accession of Bulgaria and Romania stressing that the loose movement is at the heart of the European project.
But on 20th October the Dutch Parliament followed a solution stipulating that the Netherlands must oppose the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area without frontiers.
On December 8, EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers will vote on the accession of the 3 countries to Schengen.
The Dutch Parliament followed a solution on Thursday 20th October stating that the Netherlands opposes the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen border-free area.
Recent specialised inspection reports have shown that Bulgaria has established strong border control with systematic surveillance and controls of external borders. The country would have the mandatory structures to ensure respect for basic rights through external protection.
Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson announced that a new inspection project will be underway in all three countries from Tuesday after the Dutch parliament and Sweden requested more information on visas and data coverage issues.
According to data received through EURACTIV from MEPs, it is possible that next week a new one will be presented in the Dutch parliament, calling for Romania to disassociate itself from Bulgaria.
Bulgarian MEP Petar Vitanov (S) told EURACTIV
“Bulgarian parties will have to activate their contacts abroad. This would be an incredibly damaging and discriminatory decision, which can only generate anti-European sentiments in Bulgaria,” Vitanov said.
Last month, Romanian MEP Vlad Gheorghe (Renew) said in an interview with EURACTIV Bulgaria that no one in his country was looking for Bulgaria to disassociate itself from Romania.
“Nobody in Romania talks about Bulgaria as a bad thing. . . There is no public or public opinion in that regard. Romania’s view of Bulgaria is quite positive. We are smart neighbors. But now everyone in Romania is starting to be disappointed with the Dutch. “. They see you as a victim of Dutch politics, just like us,” he said.
On Sunday, Bulgaria’s former foreign minister Solomon Passy told national broadcaster BNT that Bulgaria’s international relations had made a serious mistake by giving Sweden and Finland the green light to join NATO before resolving the Schengen issue.
Sweden took a negative stance after Sofia invited him to join NATO.
(Editing by Georgi Gotev/Alice Taylor)