site.btaEuropean Commission: Schengen, Eurozone Membership Criteria Set Out Very Precisely

European Commission Chief Spokesperson Eric Mamer said on Friday that there was absolutely no way that the Commission was going to comment on a recording which is of unknown origin. Mamer was responding to a journalist's request to state the Commission's opinion on a controversial recording which Bulgarian MP Radostin Vasilev (Continue the Change) made public in Sofia earlier in the day. Among other things, the recording contains allegations about meetings with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel to discuss how Bulgaria can join the Schengen area and circumvent the eurozone entry rules.

Mamer said: "What is clear is that there are criteria that apply both to entering Schengen - and the President has been extremely vocal in her support both for Romania and Bulgaria when it comes to their accession to Schengen - and very clear criteria for entering the eurozone." The Chief Spokesperson noted that not only President von der Leyen but also the whole College of Commissioners and the Council of the European Union "will apply, of course, the criteria which are set out for such decisions very precisely".

"But in general, we do not comment on these sorts of allegations and recordings which are supposedly coming to light," Mamer said.