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Bulgaria might enter Schengen in 2023

Dutch PM Mark Rutte
Photo: EPA/BGNES

Before the European Council, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that Bulgaria might enter Schengen in 2023 and that this could happen as early as the summer. 

"We don't say 'no', but 'not now'. We need two more things from Bulgaria - to complete the monitoring mechanism of the Schengen information system and secondly, a new evaluation of the cooperation and verification mechanism". This can be done by the summer and if there is a positive development, Bulgaria can join Schengen," Rutte said.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev commented: "October at the latest - this is the latest date and goal that we set for ourselves and for which we already have increasing support. It depends a lot on whether the Bulgarian parliament will adopt two important laws now, in January - one related to the accountability of the country's prosecutor general and the anti-corruption law". 
Radev also stated that he will give more time to the second political force to try to form a government, BNR correspondent in Brussels Angelina Piskova reported.



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