Bulgaria deploys EU-funded drones to monitor Turkish border
Kyiv • UNN
Bulgaria has started monitoring its border with Turkey using drones. This is part of an agreement to join the Schengen area after Austria lifted its veto.
On Monday, Bulgaria began using high-tech drones to monitor its border with Turkey. Thus, it is fulfilling its part of a compromise agreement aimed at ensuring its accession to the Schengen area. This is reported by UNN with reference to Euractiv.
Details
Back in 2022, Austria made its support for Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area conditional on strengthening control on the Bulgarian-Turkish border. Initially, Vienna insisted on building a border wall.
The European Commission rejected this idea, offering instead to finance surveillance with drones. This compromise eventually led to Austria lifting its veto in early 2024.
The project, which has been delayed for almost two years, is part of the European Commission's efforts to strengthen border security along the EU's external borders, such as the Turkish-Bulgarian land border.
Addition
The President of the European Council, António Costa, after meeting with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rossen Zhelyazkov, reported that Bulgaria can play a key role in strengthening Europe's defense thanks to its defense industry.
The pro-Russian party "Vazrazhdane" signed an agreement on cooperation with the Russian party "United Russia", despite the fact that Russia considers Bulgaria an "unfriendly country".