What will Bulgaria win from Schengen entry

The access of Bulgaria and Romania into the passport-free traveling throughout Europe has been postponed for yet another time and this is for an indefinite period. The situation led to serious debates among the politicians in Bulgaria, who were blaming one political formation or another. At the same time Romanians seemed to be bored with the numerous delays and no longer interested whether they will enter the Schengen zone or not.

Here comes the question what does the Schengen zone symbolize? The main idea behind the Schengen agreement is for the possibility of free crossing of borders between the countries that are members of the Schengen zone. At the same time, this agreement aims to guarantee the level of security of all the member states, which is achieved by various means, including common standards of border control at the external borders; similar visa policy; similar national legislation, cross-border police and judicial cooperation, as well as introduction of the Schengen Information System. Today, all 25 member states of the Schengen agreement apply these rules. Twenty-two of the countries are members of the European Union as well. The other three that participate in the Schengen zone are Switzerland, Island and Norway. Hopefully, Bulgaria and Romania will enter the Schengen zone at the beginning of next year as 26th and 27th state of Schengen.