The prime minister said that after long and difficult negotiations with Austria, a

Austria has agreed to Bulgaria's partial accession to the Schengen area, in particular, regarding sea and air routes.

This was announced by Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, reports BGNES. 

He said that after long and difficult negotiations with Austria, a "principled agreement" was reached on Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the Schengen area.

At the first stage, the issue of air and sea borders is being discussed, while negotiations on land borders continue. Austria also promised to continue negotiations on these issues. The Prime Minister emphasized that additional discussions will be aimed at strengthening control over the EU's external borders, in particular with Turkey and Serbia, to combat illegal migration.

This success on the Schengen issue is considered significant for Bulgaria, which has not made any tangible progress in this area for 12 years. The conditional "air" and "sea" Schengen for Romania is expected to become a reality on March 31, 2024, with full accession in 2025, subject to approval by the EU Council.