Bulgaria ‘hostage’ to Schengen Area debate, says prime minister

Bulgaria is being held hostage when it comes to Schengen enlargement, according to the country’s prime minister.

Speaking to Euronews, Nikolay Denkov said that his country has fulfilled all the EU’s criteria to join the border-free travel zone, but is still blocked from entering the Schengen Area by some member states, such as Austria.

“When I met Chancellor Nehammer in Austria, he was very clear that he has no problems with Bulgaria and Romania per se today,” the prime minister said.

“His problem is how the Schengen Area is working in general. So this is more like a discussion between Austria and the European Union that I’d rather have, than between Bulgaria and Austria. 

“Of course, we are the victims of this situation. We, as I said today, feel a little bit like a hostage in this situation. I hope that there will be a positive development in December.”

Denkov also rejected criticism from Hungary and Serbia after Bulgaria announced plans to tax the transfer of Russian gas through its territory.

Both importers of natural gas from Moscow, Budapest and Belgrade fear that the measure will lead to higher fuel prices. 

But the prime minister said the law is not directed at them.

“The way this tax is implemented does not put any requirements for payments from the receiving countries, like Hungary or other countries. 

“It is defined in such a way that it should be paid by Gazprom and I had discussions with the Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán, with the Serbian Prime Minister (Aleksandar Vučić), and I told them, this is not against your citizens. We don’t want to hurt them in any way. What we want is to take some of the profit of the Russian war machine because it’s fuelled by Gazprom literally in some way.”

Bulgaria has previously blocked North Macedonia’s EU membership talks over concerns about the rights of national minorities. A deal was reached on the issue last year though, and Sofia has no further demands towards North Macedonia.

“No, we have no further demands. There is a very clear decision from the last year, 2022,” Denkov said.

“It is between North Macedonia and the European Union, actually. So this is a matter of negotiations with them, not with Bulgaria today.

“What we expect is this agreement to be fulfilled by the side of North Macedonia as it is expected.”

He added that the Western Balkans entering the EU is in Bulgaria’s interest politically and economically, but warned that new countries must be true members of the Union once they join.