President Radev from Brussels: Bulgaria will enter Schengen next year, the deadline is October

"Bulgaria will join Schengen next year, working with the Netherlands and Austria. The latest deadline is October, we will do our best to accelerate the entry before that. With the President of Romania, we will raise the issue at this Council as well," President Rumen Radev said ahead of the European Council meeting on December 15.

He said it depends on whether the Bulgarian Parliament will adopt two important laws in January - on the criminal liability of the prosecutor general and the anti-corruption law. Romania is not technically ready for a Schengen border on the Danube river, these are long processes, Radev said.

In his words, this is important for the country's development, for Bulgaria's European future, for the rise of the Bulgarian economy, for the standard and quality of life in Bulgaria. Joining Schengen means that the huge queues at our borders with Greece and Romania will be immediately eliminated, and it will also have a positive effect on tourism, Rumen Radev added.

According to the President, Bulgaria's entry into Schengen means a greater inflow of foreign investments in the country.

"This is a fight for our dignity. For the first time Bulgaria is receiving such support from all member states and all European institutions. All our efforts to secure the common border, to fight illegal trafficking of migrants, secondary migration, we are uncovering more and more illegal networks - transnational and internal. We need to help the Netherlands and Austria solve their internal political problems," the Head of State added.

He clarified that Bulgaria calls for a commitment with clear timelines and very precise criteria.

"Bulgaria has met all the technical criteria, there are still claims from the Netherlands and Austria. We are about to reach a precise deadline for Bulgaria's accession to Schengen, which should be irreversible. Next year Bulgaria will join Schengen definitively. Romania realises that the best strategy is for the two countries to go together," Radev added.

"As I said before, this is not a “no”, but “not now”. We need two things - full control of the border and the evidence of it and secondly, the completion of the cooperation and verification mechanism, hopefully by the summer, but I am optimistic," said Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

The topics expected to be discussed by European leaders at the meeting in Brussels include dealing with the consequences of the energy and economic crisis in Europe, the war in Ukraine, security and defence, the southern neighbourhood, and foreign affairs.