Last week, experts from the European Commission arrived at a problematic border crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey, hoping to sort out long-running phytosanitary problems that are creating domestic and international problems for Bulgaria. EURACTIV Bulgaria reports.
The EU officials arrived at Bulgaria’s ‘Kapitan Andreevo’ border crossing to conduct an audit of the phytosanitary control of fruits and vegetables imported from Turkey. The issue of food control along the Bulgarian-Turkish border is extremely important for the entire EU because after entering EU territory, Turkish fruits and vegetables reach customers throughout the bloc. The import of cheap fruits and vegetables from Turkey has been cited as a major problem for Bulgarian farmers.
In particular, the pesticides in Turkish fruits and vegetables often go undetected because of a scheme put in place at ‘Kapitan Andreevo’. The outgoing Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ivan Hristanov said that for 10 years, European diplomatic missions and government officials have been telling Bulgaria that until it solves the problems at the ‘Kapitan Andreevo’ border crossing, the country will not enter the EU’s Schengen passport-free area.
Source: euractiv.com