Netherlands Expects More Progress from Bulgaria on Schengen Accession Terms

The Netherlands is not against Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen, but expects more progress from the country on the terms of accession.

This was stated by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, to BNT in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, where the Council of Europe summit was opened yesterday.

Will you support Bulgaria for Schengen?

“We have discussed Schengen many times, including with your president, of course. However, this is not up to us. We have to wait for the next assessment by the European Commission to see if sufficient progress has been made. So we are not against Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen. We just have to make sure that all the conditions are met,” said Mark Rutte – Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

Formally, Bulgaria has long since fulfilled the conditions to be admitted to the Schengen area, the most elite club on the Old Continent, which includes 26 highly developed countries. Four of them – Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland – are not even members of the EU, “Deutsche Welle” recalls.

However, we must admit that the Dutch and the Austrians, who, in addition to us, also blocked the Romanian application for Schengen, have certain reasons.

According to the EC, which in 15 years prepared 19 reports on Bulgaria, there is progress, but it is unsatisfactory. The fact is that there are no visible results – for example, in the fight against political corruption, which are present in Romania. The reform of the judicial system remains in limbo. It is not clothed in legal norms and at all introduced a working mechanism for holding the Prosecutor General accountable.

The latest scandals in the native prosecutor’s office only show that maybe Mark Rutte is right, and Bulgaria does not have the political will to deal with the problem.