The accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area was among the highlights of the meeting in Athens between Bulgaria’s Premier Nikolay Denkov and his Romanian counterpart Ion-Marcel Ciolacu, BTA reported. It transpired from the meeting that accession to Schengen is a priority for the two countries. 

According to the government's press service, premiers Denkov and Ciolacu discussed the joint actions of the two countries to achieve this goal. Nikolay Denkov provided two of Bulgaria’s main arguments for Schengen membership: removing the borders between Bulgaria and Greece and between Bulgaria and Romania would free up resources for even better protection of the external border of the European Union - between Bulgaria and Turkiye. On the other hand, the queues of cars waiting for hours at the border crossings between EU Member States would dissappear, which will also significantly reduce carbon emissions. Nikolay Denkov and Ion-Marcel Ciolacu confirmed their interest in building a new bridge over the Danube, launching a ferry line between Ruse and Giurgiu and speeding up work on the Fast Danube project.