Sofia is taking action to lift international opposition to the country’s bid to join Europe's borderless zone next year. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov is using a Brussels summit of the European People’s Party, to which his GERB party belongs, to woo critics of Bulgaria's plans to enter the passport-free zone. At the same time, in Sofia, GERB members of the European Parliament organized a round table on Friday, attended by many EU ambassadors, aimed at convincing critics that Sofia will be ready to join the Schengen area.
"We're using every opportunity [in the European Parliament] to initiate steps that will ease Bulgaria's Schengen entry," Iliana Ivanova, a GERB member of the European Parliament, told Balkan Insight. Borisov announced on Thursday that the European People’s Party had promised to support Sofia’s bid to join the Schengen area and would host talks between Bulgaria and France, the leading sceptic.
"The idea is to have an informal round of talks with the countries that oppose our Schengen membership and clear up their concerns," Ivanova said. Last month, Paris suggested that Sofia would not be ready to enter the Schengen zone until Brussels had lifted the mechanism that monitors its progress in the fight against organised crime and corruption. The Netherlands and Austria expressed similar worries. Together with neighbouring Romania, Bulgaria wants to enter the Schengen area in 2011. However, many observers predict that despite promises in Sofia and Bucharest that their countries will be technically ready to enter the zone, their membership will be delayed because of political issues.
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