Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeikov, who spoke on the Bulgarian National Television on Wednesday morning, said that he hopes that Bulgaria will become a full member of Schengen with removed land internal border controls at the end of 2024. Gvozdeikov said that all EU Member States offered an assessment, according to which both Bulgaria and Romania are ready for Schengen membership.

The Minister pointed out that this was the first assessment, and a second stage is upcoming, reported Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).

Gvozdeikov said: "The capacity of the borders is extremely busy at the moment. What needs to be done is to ease the control regime itself, but to implement it strictly".

Gvozdeikov also spoke about the Bulgarian-owned Malta-flagged bulk carrier Verila, which had six members of her crew detained by Irish authorities shortly before Christmas. He said: "The information available is that the rest of the crew have been released. The ship is still detained. After the completion of the investigation, the ship should return to Bulgaria".

Another Bulgarian-owned ship, Ruen, is in Somali territorial waters. The crew is in good health, there is no threat to their lives, and negotiations are underway for their release, the Minister reported.