President Radev: The sooner we join Schengen, the sooner we can strengthen security at border with Turkey

President Rumen Radev made an appeal to the countries that still do not give their consent for Bulgaria's accession to Schengen to understand very well that the faster Bulgaria joins the Schengen area, the faster the country will be able to move forces and resources from the borders with Greece and Romania and redirect them to the EU's external border, the one with Turkey.

"This means that these countries will be reassured that Bulgaria will be even more solid in guarding this external EU border. Bulgaria has met all the technical criteria for Schengen membership since 2011. Bulgaria in good faith initiated two new inspections in recent months. The results are excellent. We do not accept that additional conditions are continually imposed which are outside the Schengen membership criteria altogether", Radev pointed out.

The Head of State said that he expects work at all levels of diplomacy and expressed hope that reason will be shown.

"It is utterly illogical that in conditions of crisis - security, economic, social - we should keep Bulgaria and Romania out of the Schengen area. This leads to a loss of economic opportunities, this leads to a strong hindrance not only to our economies. Let us not forget who is the largest investor in Bulgaria - the Netherlands, who is the second largest investor in Bulgaria - Austria. And I appeal to the state leaderships of these countries not to go against their own businesses, which benefit from the good conditions that Bulgaria provides. I am convinced that next year, working hard, both Romania and Bulgaria will join the Schengen area," he added.

Rumen Radev met in Sofia with Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

"Greece has consistently supported Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area. We believe that Bulgaria has long met the necessary pre-set criteria. Its accession should not be delayed any longer. This is confirmed by the repeated evaluation of the European Commission. The completion of the accession process for Bulgaria and Romania is also dictated by the geopolitical situation in our region. The many challenges require strengthening the European family and demonstrating solidarity between EU Member States. And like all issues and disagreements in a family, in the European family, it is best to solve problems through dialogue. And it is very important that the efforts made by both sides are not fairly left alone. There must be solidarity on the part of all Member States," said Katerina Sakellaropoulou, President of Greece.

Rumen Radev thanked for the systematic support the southern neighbour gives us - for the membership in Schengen, in the Eurozone, in the OECD and underlined the good prospects for cooperation in the energy sector.

"The prospects for the development of cooperation between Greece and Bulgaria in the energy sector are bright. And this is due to several factors. Not only the geographical position of our two countries, not only the experience and the nature of our energy systems, but also the strong political will of the state leaderships of both countries to continue and deepen this cooperation," he pointed out.

The construction of the liquefied natural gas terminal in Alexandroupolis, where Bulgaria participates with 20% and has doubled our country's reserved capacity, is expected to be completed within a year. Our country is also interested in the construction of the second Trakia terminal at the same location, Radev said. In addition, the transmission line between Nea Santia and Maritsa East is currently under construction, which should contribute to even greater connectivity of our energy systems.

"The procedure for doubling the capacity of the underground gas storage in Chiren is currently underway, which enables not only Bulgaria but also Greece to balance its gas transmission system, because without a large-capacity underground gas storage, the import of liquefied gas itself cannot be balanced. Here Bulgaria and Greece are interconnected," Radev added.

He also pointed out that Bulgaria is considering resuming projects for future nuclear capacities because it has the most important resource - people with capacity, with qualifications, with long experience in the safe operation of our nuclear power plant and this is a project that "together we can develop in the future".

"We are interconnected in gas, in electricity generation and in the future in the systems for storing this energy. In this way, Bulgaria and Greece are becoming a hub for energy production, transmission and storage, which will be able to balance the energy systems of our neighbours and partners," Radev added.

The Bulgarian Head of State honoured Katerina Sakellaropoulou with the Order of Stara Planina with a ribbon for her services to the development of bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Greece.

Images by BGNES