The Hürriyet newspaper has reported this week info, provided by the Turkish intelligence service, claiming that ISIS warriors with Syrian and Palestinian passports plan to enter into Bulgaria and strike inside the EU. Ankara authorities have neither confirmed, nor denied it officially. However, Bulgaria is strongly interested in such info, as it special services have also been claiming for a long time that the strong migration flow causes the risk of jihadists’ penetration. Three such men were expulsed to Spain in the beginning of January, as those had been nabbed on the border with Turkey on their way to join the ISIS forces in Syria. Then another person was busted at the same spot and expulsed to France, being suspected of participation in the Paris assaults. The piece of news from this week is particularly alarming, indicating that Bulgaria is a transit corridor in both directions. Being an EU external border, this country’s responsibility is really serious. That was why Vice Premier Meglena Kuneva paid attention to the need of border control strengthening along the EU’s external borders at an US-held forum on counteraction against foreign warriors, who would leave their motherland, in order to join any terrorist organizations. Once again Kuneva defended the stance that in this context the Schengen expansion with Bulgaria and Romania, as well as the thick usage of all EU member-states’ information systems will contribute to the overall European security. A month ago President of EP Martin Schultz also said that the Schengen accession of both states should be included into the debates on the new European security strategy. Schengen is not only a space for free movement of people and goods, but turns into a more and more important element of the European security system. The debate on the issue is expected to be updated in March.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev