Schengen area, Bulgaria and the new rules

In the end of May, the Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement and accepted a new package of legislative measures. According to the new rules shall be established internal borders within the Schengen area, however not everyone sees that as a progress. The agreement reached showed a compromise, since there was a clash in the opinions of the two institutions. It all started in 1985 when seven countries from Europe decided to abolish their internal borders and signed an agreement. The area with no borders was then joined by other states and some states outside the European Union like Switzerland, Iceland Norway and Liechtenstein. Nowadays, Schengen area has thirty members, where twenty-seven of which are using the agreement. The new rules that Bulgaria will have to follow once it enters the Schengen zone, have been set since a great number of immigrants started making troubles for some of the national populations.

The new way of government of the Schengen area aroused after the confrontation between the Council that wants more freedom for the states that want to introduce border controls and the European Parliament that wants to have strict rules on the right of the European citizens to free movement. According to the new agreement, the member states will be able to use border controls if they want to for a period of two years, in case they fear a thread from massive immigration. This means that there will be formalities to enter the Schengen zone if you are not a citizen of the European Union. The travelers will need to register online.