Bulgaria and Romania Lost Hope About Entering Schengen

At first Romania and now Bulgaria are slowly abandoning their hope to receive an invitation to join the passport-free travel zone of Schengen area. The admission of the two countries is on hold for many years now, though both states have proved their technical and border readiness to become part of the Schengen zone. The European Council sessions have put on hold all discussions concerning the admission of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area and the expansion of the Schengen area in general.

Romania and Bulgaria have hoped to join the borderless zone since 2010. Through the years several nations have opposed the joining of Bulgaria and Romania, mainly Holland, Germany and Finland. Their reasons for that were concerned with the serious corruption issues that the two countries were believed to have. Yet, both Romania and Bulgaria are meeting the technical criteria for entering Schengen and for controlling their borders, including the borders with the countries that are not part of the European Union.

According to the Romanian political analyst Cristian Inteanu, the immigrants’ crises have caused serious issues and will influence the perpective of EU states over the future extension of the Schengen space. As the experts said, Romania and Bulgaria will be allowed to the Schengen area, if that will strengthen the eastern border of the European Union.