The Prime Ministers of Romania, Bulgaria and Greece have renewed their firm joint call for a positive decision at the JHA Council related to the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen in 2023.
The call was reaffirmed in the Joint Declaration agreed upon by the three heads of government at the Trilateral meeting Romania – Bulgaria – Greece, agerpres reports.
”The full accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area will undoubtedly contribute to EU safety. It will facilitate the free movement and ensure equal rights for all EU citizens, which is a fundamental principle of our Union. It will clearly benefit the business sector and commerce and reduce harmful traffic emissions. Moreover, it will limit the room for foreign malign influence feeding anti-European or anti-Western narratives in the region as a whole,” the Declaration reads.
Furthermore, the three heads of government agreed to strengthen cooperation as regards combating illegal migration, as well as breaking human smugglers’ networks and disrupting their financing and supply chain, as part of the common effort at EU level towards managing illegal migration.
”In this context, we recall the importance of pursuing the implementation of the European Council conclusions of 9 February 2023, on all dimensions, and we condemn the attempts to instrumentalise migrants when used as leverage or as part of hybrid destabilizing actions,” the Declaration also reads.