Bulgaria – legally bound to enter the Schengen zone

In the spring of 2013, the German Association of Cities complained that they fear from a serious flow of immigrants that will impose a burden on the social protection systems. Gunther Oettinger, the Energy Commissioner stated that Romania, Italy and Bulgaria are “ungovernable” countries that may endanger the stability in the region and in the Schengen zone in general. This speculation showed that the new rules of the Schengen area agreement could be a step back as they will be applied according to the criteria of the member states and can be very biased. According to this agreement, Bulgaria and Romania are no longer candidates to enter the Schengen zone, as they have answered the technical criteria and have the legal right to join the area. The new rules require a new evaluation system, so the organized crime and the corruption could no longer be the easy excuse of the member states to block the entry into Schengen of Bulgaria and Romania.

However, the entry of Bulgaria into Schengen depends on the member countries, the European Parliament and the Commission. Hopefully, thanks to the new rules the member states could feel more at ease to accept the two new countries in the Schengen zone.