The president of the National Assembly made the above statement at the time of her official meeting with the Portugal’s Head of State Anibal Cavoco Silva. In her words our country had fulfilled, long ago, the requirements for membership in the Schengen border-free zone. Bulgaria uses a great volume of information from the Schengen information system. Bulgaria had always aimed at complying with the recommendations and the requirements suggested in the reports of the European institutions. The compliance monitoring has been carried out under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism in the areas of freedom, security and justice, stressed the National Assembly president Tsetska Tsacheva. 

As regard to the migration pressure experienced by Bulgaria, Tsetska Tsacheva added that Bulgaria follows strictly its commitments laid down in a number of documents and conventions. She stressed the institutions and the personnel dealing with migration were vigilant, and making efforts to not let persons with criminal intentions or willing to carry out terrorist acts enter the territory of the European Union.

The President of Portugal, Mr. Annibal Cavaco Silva, emphasized the categorical support of his country for the accession of Bulgaria to the Schengen Area. He added it is necessary to explain to some of the other partners making the decision, that the country had fulfilled all requirements.  Mr. Silva said further Bulgaria and Portugal need to defend their interests in the energy field and Bulgaria needs to be integrated in EU projects. In his opinion the two countries have excellent relations and they could try to enter third country markets together as economic and trade partners. He continued saying Portugal feels a great sympathy towards Bulgaria and expressed confidence that Bulgaria will keep its political stability and economic growth.  
 
During the meeting the National Assembly president Tsetska Tsacheva praised the inter-parliamentary relations and the high level of the political dialogue between the two countries. The meeting was attended by MPs from the friendship group Bulgaria-Portugal: Petya Avramova, Galya Zaharieva, Valeri Jablyanov, Roumen Gechev, Roumen Hristov and Boris Yachev