At the conference dedicated to the new role of the Balkans, organized in Brussels by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said it was not fair that Bulgaria was outside Schengen.

Bulgaria has the best-protected external border of the EU and unlike Greece it had is zero pressure from migrants, but it was still outside Schengen because some western countries continually think of motives for leaving this country out, the prime minister said.

Bulgaria is the informal leader of the Balkans as the peninsula is Europe, not its backyard, he added. Borissov once again called for giving a clear perspective to the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU, because leaving Kosovo, Albania, Serbia or any other Balkan country as “blank spot” would mean instability in the region.