Bulgaria will not trade Schengen membership for receiving refugees: Deputy PM

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Rumiana Bachvarova said here on Friday that her country would not trade its entry into Schengen for receiving refugees because these were two different issues.

Bulgaria deserved to be in the visa-free Schengen area because the country has fulfilled all the technical requirements and its citizens have equal rights as other EU member countries, Bachvarova said when addressing the 12th international conference Security in South-East Europe.

Bulgaria's European partners are obliged to admit it into the Schengen area, Bachvarova said.

Meanwhile, the issue of refugees was a responsibility of Bulgaria and its commitment to the EU, she said.

"That's why we would not trade our membership in Schengen for receiving refugees. These are two different issues," Bachvarova said.

She also noted that refugees, who passed through Bulgaria, refused to stay in the country because they had only one destination -- Germany.

Bulgaria, along with Romania, had hoped to join Schengen in March 2011, but some Schengen members expressed reluctance due to concerns over alleged corruption and the security situation in the two Balkan states. The two countries are still in the waiting room of Schengen. Endit