BULGARIA AND ROMANIA RECEIVED WRITTEN ASSURANCES THAT CANADA WILL REMOVE VISA REQUIREMENTS

Bulgaria and Romania withdrew their objections to the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) after getting written assurances from Ottawa that Canada will remove visa requirements for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens from 1st of December 2017, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists in Brussels on 21st of October, where he is taking part in a meeting of the European Council.

"The European Commission and we worked all night on the deal," Borissov said. He added that he and the Romanian president had received reliable written confirmations from Canada that visa requirements would be removed from 1st of December 2017. He said that the Romanian President, all other EU countries and him decided to support the agreement.

Asked about the actions of the authorities in the Belgian province of Wallonia, which remains the only obstacle to the signing of the agreement, Borissov said that this was dangerous. He said that there already was a dangerous precedent in Europe, of countries blocking the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU’s Schengen visa zone.

“With all the respect to each government, with all the constitutional peculiarities in each country, but somehow it does not sound good.”, he said.

"Bulgaria and Canada have wonderful geographical, historical and natural wonders and this is good for tourism, businesses and for the people," the Prime Minister said regarding the expectation for lifting the Canadian visas. He explained that there were clear guarantees already from the European Commission and the Council that the removal of visa requirements for Bulgarians and Romanians was an insurmountable factor in the trade agreement.