The accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Zone by air and sea in March, 2024, has also been confirmed by the country’s Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov.

His comments came during a joint briefing held with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Gabriel as well as Minister of Internal Affairs Kalin Stoyanov,

While the accession to Schengen by air and sea will start from March, talks regarding land borders will continue next year.

Through a statement, the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria disclosed that Denkov emphasized that Austria is supporting Bulgaria and other EU countries in negotiations.

According to him, Austria has urged the European Commision to support Sofia with funding, technical support, and experts, stressing that Vienna’s interest aligns with Sofia’s interest of strengthening external borders.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Denkov said that at present, there are no plans to ease land borders between Sofia and Bucharest, emphasizing that the focus is on improving controls to halt irregular entry of migrants.

Irregular migration concerns have been the main reasons that Austria and the Netherlands blocked the accession of Bulgaria to the Schengen Zone in December last year.

In contrast to Austria, the Netherlands earlier this month confirmed that it would support the membership of Bulgaria to the EU’s visa-free travel zone.

However, Austria’s Interior Minister, Gerhard Karner, unfolded a proposal called the “Air Schengen” consisting of four conditions that would permit the partial accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Zone.

Recently, Sofia and Bucharest have reached an agreement with Vienna, permitting the partial completion of a process that citizens of both Balkan countries have been waiting for, in spite of meeting all needed conditions, for over ten years.