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Bulgaria was recently supported by the Italian Ambassador in the country – Mr. Marco Conticelli. The Ambassador declared his support concerning Bulgaria’s bid to enter the Schengen zone. He expressed his hopes for this entry to happen during the period of the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Italy will be in charge of the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months in the period July – December 2014.

In a recent interview given for the Bulgarian National Radio, the Ambassador of Italy in Bulgaria stated that both Romania and Bulgaria are ready to join the Schengen Area. The Ambassador declared that Italy will support the bid of Bulgaria to enter the Schengen zone along with the bid of Romania. He confirmed that the bid to enter the Schengen zone of Bulgaria and Romania will be in the agenda during the meeting and the debates of the foreign ministers of the EU countries. If they achieve a consensus decision, the two Romania and Bulgaria will enter the Schengen travel free zone. Yet, there are many Schengen member countries that oppose the abolition of the internal border control as Bulgaria has shown poor results concerning the spheres of home affairs and justice.

Bulgaria is prepared to become a member of the travel free territory of the Schengen agreement as the country has taken all the necessary measures including the application and usage of the Schengen Information System. Thank to this mechanism, the judicial authorities and the national border control of the different countries can collect information on the objects and persons.

Bulgaria hopes to become a member state of the Schengen zone and with that to supply the necessary information to the system through the national networks that are connected to the central system. It is important to mention that the Schengen area is within the institutional and the legal framework of the European Union. Due to that it comes under the judicial and the parliamentary scrutiny, encouraging the free movement of people as well as the parliamentary control.

Several countries are already members of the travel free Schengen agreement zone, however they have the option to choose whether or not to apply the new measures that are taken under the European Commission Treaty that works within the framework of the European Union. This is valid even for the countries that made a development of the Schengen zone in first place. For example, Denmark is bound with certain measures that it has to follow under the common visa policy.

The United Kingdom and Ireland can take part in all or in some of the Schengen agreements according to the protocol from the Treaty of Amsterdam. This can happen if the member states of Schengen and the government representative of the country vote in favor within the Council. In general, the United Kingdom tries to cooperate in some aspects of Schengen, which include the judicial cooperation and the police cooperation, as well as the application of the SIS system. In year 2000 Ireland also asked to take part in some aspects of Schengen that were covered by the request of the United Kingdom. The request of Ireland was approved in 2002. When Bulgaria becomes part of the Schengen agreement, it’s believed that the country will accept all agreements concerning Schengen as a full member.

The future MEPs of Bulgaria had a recent meeting with the president and discussed several important topics that concern both sides. On 9th June, the representatives of Bulgaria at the European Parliament attended a meeting with the president of Bulgaria Mr. Rosen Plevneliev in order to discuss their priorities concerning the European Parliament. The representatives of the European Parliament and the President could find dozen of topics to discuss including the bid of Bulgaria into the Schengen area and the chances of the country to be accepted as part of the travel free Schengen zone.

Iliyana Yotova, who has become a MEP as a member of the Coalition for Bulgaria commented that on the meeting were discussed the foreign policy of the country, the refugees, and the entire situation, etc. When asked about the nomination of a Bulgarian European Commissioner, Ms. Yotova replied with the words of the President, namely that the leading thing in this matter is for the political formations to reach an agreement on the principles and then based on these, the European Commissioner would be nominated in order to avoid a precedent.

Recently became clear that the Foreign Minister of Austria Mr. Sebastian Kurz is supporting the progress that Bulgaria has made for being accepted in the Schengen travel free area. Mr. Kurz gave his support for the entry of Bulgaria in the Schengen area during a meeting that he had with his Bulgarian counterpart Mr. Kristian Vigenin, which was held in the Austrian capital Vienna. The two ministers of Austria and Bulgaria further discussed the Southern Stream gas pipeline and agreed that it plays a great role in the energy security of Europe.

During the official meeting, the Foreign Minister of Austria Mr. Sebastian Kurz and the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria Mr. Kristian Vigenin also discussed the situation with the refugees and the immigrants. At that point Mr. Vigenin expressed his opinion that the European Union needs a border policy that is not only focused on the integration and the border security, but is also targeted at the direct support of the countries in the conflict. Both Kurz and Vigenin shared their idea that the European Union has to be enlarged into the countries from the Western Balkans and expressed their opinion how important the good neighborly relations are.

The Foreign Minister of Bulgaria, Mr. Kristian Vigenin informed the citizens of Bulgaria that Italy supports the Schengen bid of Bulgaria. Few days ago on a meeting with his Italian counterpart Federica Mogherini, Mr. Vigenin announced that Bulgaria and Italy will work together on the implementation of the project for the gas pipeline of Southern Stream. According to a quote on the Bulgarian National Radio, the Foreign Minister made it clear that Bulgaria has every reason to believe that Bulgaria’s accession into the Schengen area could become a fact in the autumn of 2014.

Mr. Kristian Vigenin further announced that the Foreign Minister of Italy had vowed his country to convince other member states why the approval of the Schengen accession of Bulgaria is important during the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Italian Presidency will take place from July until December 2014. The Foreign Minister of Italy had put an emphasis on the fact that Italy believes Bulgaria to be ready to join the Schengen travel free zone and that there is no reason for postponement any more. The two foreign ministers of Bulgaria and Italy had agreed on joining their efforts in the implementation of the gas pipeline Southern Steam and defending it from political attacks.

In year 1985 several countries in Europe took a decision and formed a territory with no internal borders, naming it the Schengen area. The original member states of the Schengen area were five – Germany and France, Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as the Netherlands. Through the years the Schengen area gradually and slowly expanded to include now as a member state almost every country in the European Union. The first countries that joined the Schengen area after it was formed include Italy in 1990, Portugal and Spain in 1991, Greece in 1992, Austria in 1995, Finland, Denmark and Sweden in 1996. The great expansion of the Schengen zone followed in 2007 when the border free zone was joined by the Czech Republic and Estonia, by Lithuania and Latvia, by Malta and Hungary, by Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland.

In 2008 the associated country of Switzerland also entered the Schengen zone. The countries of Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus are perceived as not yet fully fledged members of the Schengen area. At the current moment these countries have border controls between them and the Schengen zone and they will stay for now. When the European Union Council decides that these countries have met the conditions required, the internal border controls will be abolished.

The Schengen area was developed by five original member countries with an agreement signed in June 1985. After the passport-free area was arranged was signed an extra convention five years later, according to which the internal borders of the member states were abolished and one single external border was formed. From then on the immigration checks for the Schengen area were carried out according to the identical procedures. Bulgaria aims to become a member of the Schengen area and is technically prepared for that. When this happen and Bulgaria becomes a member state of the Schengen agreement, the country will have to follow common rules in regards to the visas, the external borders, the right of asylum, etc. which regulation are adopted in order to allow the free movement of people within the territory of the member states.

The freedom of movement in the Schengen zone comes with certain compensatory measures, which come to reconcile security and freedom. These measures include improved cooperation, better coordination between the judicial authorities and the police, measures for safeguarding of the internal security and special measures for fighting the organized crime. With all that in mind, the Schengen area soon set up the so called SIS or the Schengen Information System. This is a special database that is used by the authorities of all member countries of the Schengen agreement. Thanks to that sophisticated system, the authorities of the member countries of Schengen are able to exchange information on people and goods.

The Schengen area is a territory which allows free entry and movement of people, who are residents of the member states included in the agreement. Several attempts have been made by Bulgaria in order to enter the passport free Schengen zone. Technically, the country is prepared for that important step, however there are certain issues that the country has to overcome in order to become a member of Schengen. The countries that are included in the Schengen Agreement had abolished their internal borders and have one single external border. In this passport free zone people can travel without the need of visas for the short stays.

In order to guarantee the security in the Schengen zone, the countries do cooperate. What does this include? The police departments in the member countries of the Schengen agreement cooperate and coordinate their efforts, and the same do the judicial authorities. This cooperation in Schengen has been legally incorporated in the European Union with the Amsterdam Treaty from 1997. Yet, not all countries that are cooperating in Schengen are part of the Schengen area. Bulgaria is also one of these countries, yet there are indications that at some point Bulgaria will enter the Schengen zone one it covers all the conditions for the application of the Schengen acquis.

Since 1985 several countries formed a territory without any internal borders and this became known as the Schengen area. The member states of the Schengen area are Germany and France, Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as the Netherlands.

The Romanian Liberal MEP Norica Nicolai recently said that the exclusion of Romania and Bulgaria from the Schengen area may result in a thread to the European Security after the Ukrainian crises that the world faced. According to the Romanian politician, the European Union is now challenged to admit Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Area. Otherwise it will risk to allow “gaps to appear in the defenses of Europe.” The Liberal said that now it is time for Europe to show unity, rather than to send signals of division between West and East European countries.

According to the Liberal Norica Nicolai, if the Schengen area is not unified and integrated with Romania and Bulgaria becoming part of the Schengen agreement, this will result in gaps that will appear in the defenses of Europe. Romania and Bulgaria got a formal approval by the European Parliament to enter the Schengen zone back in 2011. Since then, the two countries have been vetoed by the governments of Finland and Netherlands, Germany and France. These vetos were based on different judicial concerns. As the Romanian Liberal pointed out Romania and Bulgaria have been implementing best border control technologies and standards for years and thus they should not be victims of internal political struggles.