Prime Minister confirms that Bulgaria will join Schengen by air and sea

After long and complex negotiations, an agreement in principle has been reached with Austria on the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. In the beginning, it will be the air and sea borders. Austria has committed to continuing negotiations on land borders, Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov said on December 28 at the last government meeting for this year. Earlier today, the Romanian Prime Minister announced that Bulgaria and Romania will join Europe's open-borders Schengen area by air and sea from March 2024.

"Negotiations with Austria will be combined with substantial support from the European Commission to protect the EU's external borders with Turkey and Serbia in order to reduce the flow of illegal migrants to Europe. After 12 years without much progress on Schengen accession, today we can congratulate ourselves on this indisputable success of the Bulgarian state," Denkov added.

Dutch government gives green light to Bulgaria's Schengen accession

The Prime Minister extended his greetings to the Bulgarians on the occasion of the Christmas and New Year holidays.

"I would like to take this opportunity to greet all Bulgarian citizens for the holidays and to wish everyone a very successful 2024," Denkov added.

There are 33 items on the ministers' meeting agenda, including the approval of additional money for the Health Ministry's budget for 2023.

The Council of Ministers will also update the annual estimates for European Union funds.