Bulgaria's first ever EU Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva, said that the country's Schengen accession has become a priority for the government, but has failed to become a national goal.

"Another mistake was that the question for the Schengen entry was raised at a political level way too early and that made our partners very suspicious. The point is that we lack good coaching of the staff. We need a lot of training," Kuneva said Sunday in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio.

She has explained that Bulgaria needs to find how the funds have been spent so far and to assess what it needs. In her opinion, coaching and training of Bulgarian border staff could be provided.

"We can no longer rely on statements that only technical requirements need to be fulfilled. After the assessments of other countries, this has become a political question. We need to show restraint, not silence," Kuneva said.

In her words, the postponement of Bulgaria's Schengen entry is a serious signal. She noted she was disappointed, but pointed out that a numerical evaluation could be done of the benefits and the damages.

"I am sure that the benefits would be more than the damages," she said.

In the interview, the former Bulgarian EU Commissioner also commented on the latest spying scandal about tapes of conversations between several key personalities.

Her comment on the statement of the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who said that he did not see anything wrong in spying on ministers, deputy prime ministers, and agencies' heads, was that she was very shocked.

"I want to note that I am very shocked and I feel sorry for the Prime Minister. When you have found out by eavesdropping that someone is sick or have problems, how do you look them in the eyes? I cannot even imagine that. I am very sorry that we have reached this point," Kuneva said.

In her words, Bulgaria needs integration, but if this integration is not based on trust, the country will not be able to become a successful EU member state.

The former EU Commissioner noted that the way of functioning of Bulgarian diplomatic missions abroad needs to be clarified. She also pointed out the need of establishing what the idea behind the carrying out of intelligence activities is.

"I hope that the revealing of names of Ambassadors, who were former agents of the Communist State Security, is over. I do not want to know what is to happen next, what would the next steps be, who would be able to perform these activities, how would they be appointed, in order to avoid being in the same situation years later," Kuneva said.

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