Bulgaria to fulfill all requirements for its Schengen accession by this summer

By the summer, Bulgaria will fulfil all requirements for entry in the Schengen area and by the year's end the schedule deadline for opening the borders will be observed, stated yesterday in the city of Ruse Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov. According to him, at end of March, the findings of the forthcoming inspection of the land borders will be positive.

"By the summer, the Bulgarian legislative amendments for a more efficient fight against organised crime will become effective. They will convince our EU partners in our willingness and real actions in this respect," highlighted Mladenov. According to him, the last report's conclusions of the U.S. Department of State for our country are also a favourable signal for a positive assessment on the actions of the Bulgarian authorities in the fight against organised crime.

He also announced that the Bulgarian side will cut three-fold the fees for crossing the Danube Bridge at Giurgiu. On Wednesday, at the regular GERB government's meeting, the Ministers of Regional Development and of Transport, Rosen Plevneliev and Alexander Tsvetkov, respectively, will submit a proposal for lowering the fee for crossing the Danube Bridge from cars, minivans and buses. It is envisaged for cars to pay a fee of €2 rather than €6, while the fee for minivans having up to 23 seats will be reduced from €12 to €4, and for buses having over 23 seats it will be reduced from €25 to €8.

"Unfortunately, for the time being, the reduction of the notorious "Danube Bridge" fee will be only made on the part of Bulgaria," explained Mladenov. The reduction in fees is intended to improve economic opportunities in the north part of Bulgaria, as well as to help us comply better with EU requirements under which the levied fees collected from this type of equipment should be allocated for their maintenance.

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