Bulgaria and Romania will be accepted to the Schengen border-free area in two phases, starting in October this year, Euractiv reported on June 21, quoting sources from Brussels.

The two countries joined the EU in 2007 and meet all technical criteria for entry in the Schengen area. However, the Netherlands blocked Bulgaria, while Austria vetoed the entry of both countries last year.

According to Euractiv, Brussels is already making preparations to include Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen area. In October, the international airports of the two countries will become part of the Schengen area.

In the second phase, in January 2024, Bulgaria and Romania will become regular members of the border-free area.

According to Bulgarian sources, the country has a serious chance of becoming a regular member of Schengen as soon as October if it shows a will for continuing reforms and if it puts diplomatic pressure on Brussels.

The Netherlands said last year that Bulgaria had made no progress in the reform of the judiciary and lacks effective control on the border with Turkey. 

However, earlier in June the parliament adopted the needed legislation changes making the country’s chief prosecutor accountable for his or her actions. Moreover, controversial ex-chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev was sacked for harming of the prestige of the judiciary.

Euractiv reported that the government of the Netherlands has signalled it appreciates Sofia’s serious efforts for the reform of the judiciary, after the adoption of the legislation changes.

However, the EU expects that Bulgaria will continue cleaning up the judiciary. The two largest formations in parliament, Gerb-SDS and Change Continues-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), are working on legislation related to the judiciary and say they have the support of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) for constitutional reforms that would complete the process.

According to Euractiv, Sofia has also benefitted from the election of a regular pro-Western government that has signalled it would make a U-turn from the pro-Russian politics of President Rumen Radev regarding its war in Ukraine.

The government immediately started implementing these pledges and is already preparing a second batch of military aid to Kyiv. It is also looking for a way to join the EU initiative to acquire and supply 1mn shells to Ukraine.

In July, the European Commission should publish a special monitoring report on the rule of law and the fight against corruption in Bulgaria, which was requested by the Netherlands. Although it is expected to criticise Sofia, as the country still has no track record of convictions for high-level corruption, the report will also point out Sofia’s will for reforms, Mediapool news outlet reported.