bulgaria entering final stage of schengen accession
News Posted On: 08 April 2011
Bulgaria is entering the final stage of it’s accession to full Schengen membership. The Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has just shown the European Commission's expert group mission the extensive upgrades made to Bulgaria's external borders.
All borders are now monitored by mobile or stationary thermal imaging cameras and new helicopter pads have been built so that helicopters can be deployed much closer to the border. It's likely that the speedboats currently monitoring the sea border may be replaced sometime in the future by unmanned aircraft.
The Interior Minister is confident that Bulgaria has fulfilled all technical criteria which require external borders with non-EU countries to be strengthened. The Kapitan Andreevo station with the Turkish border sees 4 million crossings each year and has now been upgraded to enable staff to search for drugs, arms and people smuggling.
There are also radioactive detectors, x-ray screening, scanning equipment and pulse detectors as well as the specially trained dogs. A new temporary detention facility has also been constructed and can take up to 320 people at any one time. It was funded by the EU and cost €22 million.
A timetable for Bulgaria`s accession has not yet been decided but it is thought it may be as soon as October.
This is because of the seasonal change of airport schedules which gives the chance to move Bulgarian flights on non-Schengen into Schengen terminals. Germany has proposed lifting controls at airports but leaving border checks in place to ensure that Bulgaria has sorted out previous problems.
It is likely that some EU countries will ask for a mechanism suspending Schengen arrangements, as they fear Bulgaria's accession to Schengen, resulting in the removal of internal EU border controls could lead to uncontrolled migration. Britain and Ireland do not implement Schengen rules.
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