President Rumen Radev condemned the Bulgarian border security comment made by Mark Rutte. According to BTA, the Netherlands government has prevented Bulgaria from joining Schengen because of the nation’s issue with corruption and illegal immigration.
Rutte stated that the Netherlands intends to initially rule off the idea of someone travelling illegally from Turkey to the Schengen region through Bulgaria “with a 50-euro payment.”
Three Bulgarian police officers were killed while patrolling the EU’s external border, President Radev said in response to Rutte’s remarks. Today, Mark Ruthe, the prime minister of the Netherlands, made an impermissible suggestion that it would cost 50 euros to cross this border. Instead of obtaining solidarity from Europe, Bulgaria faces condemnation.
There are many obstacles in Bulgaria’s way to joining the Schengen zone, but there is still more for the nation to overcome. Following Germany, the Netherlands blocked Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen by bringing up corruption and the country’s migrant problem.
According to Minister Rutte, there are still issues with Bulgaria’s border controls. Without endangering our security, we cannot add a country with such a high migratory influx.
Except Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia will be travelling to Schengen. The three new nations must be accepted into the Schengen area by a vote of EU ministers next week. Therefore, even if only the Netherlands opposed the proposal, it cannot stop Bulgaria’s admission to Schengen.
Though it is still unclear if the three countries’ accession will be handled as part of “one package,” if the Netherlands rejects Bulgaria, it may also have repercussions for the other two nations (Croatia and Romania).
Even though the three nations are already partially subject to Schengen regulations, internal border checks with these Member States have not been removed. Therefore they do not fully benefit from being a part of the Schengen area without internal border checks.