Bulgaria has fulfilled all its commitments and requirements for membership of the Schengen Area. That is why Bulgaria does not deserve to be sidelined any longer and it is time it became a member of Schengen, National Assembly Speaker Vezhdi Rashidov said during the meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in Strasbourg.

 Vezhdi Rashidov called against decoupling Bulgaria from Croatia and Romania on their path to the Schengen Area. Vezhdi Rashidov thanked Roberta Metsola for the latest resolution of the European Parliament, in which MEPs once again urged that Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia be no longer blocked and be admitted to Schengen. Vezhdi Rashidov noted that Bulgaria protects reliably its border, which is also an external border for the European Union and that its actions have been acknowledged by the European Commission.