site.btaPresident Radev Believes Bulgaria Must Convince Austrian Public It Deserves to Join Schengen

In order to join Schengen, we need to convince the public in Austria, not only the politicians, that Bulgaria is a reliable member of the EU, protects its borders well and deserves to be part of this space, President Rumen Radev said Tuesday at a briefing at the UN headquarters.

"We need to work much more actively not only on a political level with Austria. We have to work in such a way that we convince the public in Austria that we should be members of the Schengen area so that the public in Austria can help their politicians to make a decision," Radev said.

The Bulgarian head of State congratulated his Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen, with whom he met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and thanked him for the systematic support he is giving Bulgaria on its way to Schengen. "He has made a number of public statements that Bulgaria and Romania should soon become members of the common Schengen area," Radev said. 

Radev recalled that he had visited Austria twice in six months at the invitation of Prime Minister Karl Nehammer and President Van der Bellen, that he had attended the forum in Wachau to present his positions not only to politicians, but also to public figures, media, diplomats and academics.

"So I encourage Prime Minister Denkov to make a visit to Austria as soon as possible, there are ways. He should invite Prime Minister Nehammer as I invited him, we went to the border together, we also have a regular dialogue with the President so that our voice is heard much better and louder," Radev said. According to him, there is no policy in this direction now.

Bulgarian law enforcement agencies are catching migrant traffickers from almost all EU member states who come to Bulgaria to do business. But, he said, the financial and operational centres of illegal trafficking are not in Bulgaria, but in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. "And if we don't hit these centres, illegal immigration through Bulgaria will continue," the President added.