Category: Business Support

Another step was taken by Bulgaria in her attempt to be accepted as a member of the Schengen zone. Several weeks ago, the government of Bulgaria has approved the formation of a special unit aiming to investigate the high-level corruption in the country. This comes as an answer to Brussels, which has criticized Bulgaria repeatedly through the years for failing to put in prison corrupt officials. Both Romania and Bulgaria are now hoping to make a progress in the areas that keep them from joining the travel free Schengen zone.

Until now the corruption has undermined the trust of the Bulgarians in all the public institutions and has kept low the number of the foreign investments made. According to the Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva from now on with the new corruption investigation unit being made, the approach to all residents – ordinary people and high-level officials, will be the same. The anti-corruption unit will start operating in 2016 along with the National Strategy for prevention and for combating of corruption which will be in progress in the period 2015 – 2020. The targets of the investigation of that strategy will be the prime minister and the president, various prosecutors and lawmakers, directors of large institutions, hospitals, etc. This will be another step towards Bulgaria’s accession in the Schengen zone.

Bulgaria and Switzerland has been taken steps into strengthening their cooperation in the spheres of security and economy. That became clear after a meeting in June between the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the President of Switzerland and Head of the Department of Justice and Police Simonetta Sommaruga during a delegation visit in Switzerland.

The issues that have been discussed during the meeting cover the migration policy and the refugee crisis and naturally the Bulgaria’s accession in the travel free Schengen zone. The Prime Minister remarked that Bulgaria has been enjoying Switzerland’s support for Bulgaria’s Schengen accession for a long time. He stated that Bulgaria is protecting the external border of the European Union very well even despite the issues with the refuges, the loss of border fence and the refugee camps near the border.

His Swiss colleague Ms Sommaruga expressed her positive attitude towards the border protection taken and the fight of the country against smuggling. The two politicians agreed to set bilateral relations in different aspects of mutual interest.

The Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has put the Bulgarian issue with the Schengen entry on the table during the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Summit 2015. The president informed his listeners that Bulgaria has treated its commitments very responsibly. Mr. Plevneliev stated the question for Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen area during the first integration state as he feels Bulgarians should not keep on tolerating the postponement and the double standards.

Bulgaria has been fully prepared and ready for entering the passport free travel zone of Schengen for many years already. The local institutions have taken all precautions and the reforms made in the Judiciary system have shown great results. According to the Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev Bulgaria should be included in the first stage of the accession – opening of the marine borders.

The next president of the European Union Council will be Luxembourg and Bulgaria is lucky to have its support concerning the Schengen Accession. This was said by the Deputy PM Meglena Kuneva. This means that as Luxembourg gets the presidency since July 1st, Bulgaria will be strongly supported as far as Schengen area accession is concerned. This became clear after the meeting of Meglena Kuneva – the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister for Coordination of European Policy and Jean Asselborn – Institutional Affairs and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg in the Grand Duchy.

In fact Schengen was the main topic of the high-end talks and the two state officials. Luxembourg has declared its unequivocal commitment to support all efforts of Bulgaria to enter Schengen within their Presidency. Bulgaria is expected to take the EU Council Presidency in 2018 and that will be the first time of the country.

At the end of May it became clear that the Emiratis will be given access without visas to several countries, among which being Bulgaria. The decision was made by the European Union and thus Emiratis will now have access to the Schengen zone. This means that people from the UAE will have access to the European property market and potential investments. The currency advantage is on the side of Emirates and this makes the investment in European properties and businesses even more appealing.

This move of the European Union to allow residents of UAE to invest with no visa restrictions in countries from the Schengen Zone is very important. In fact the UAE is the first country that is granted free entry to the passport free area. Thanks to the new offer the Emiratis will have visa-free access to 26 countries in the Schengen zone and eight countries that are not yet members of the Schengen agreement, including Bulgaria and Romania, Cyprus and Croatia, Andorra and San Marino, Monaco and the Vatican. The free entry to the Schengen zone is for 90 days in any 180 day period. Naturally, Emirates has welcomed the agreement as this will save a lot of money and time to the travelers.

On several occasions already the Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva expressed her believe that Bulgaria will be the next big accession in the Schengen zone. She said that in front of the representatives of the parliament and the government, as well as in front of ambassadors and representatives of different teams, who at one point have made efforts and worked for the accession of Bulgaria in the European Union. The country celebrated ten years anniversary of its full membership in the European Union in the spring.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the further activity towards better integration in the European Union is among the main priorities of Bulgaria. This includes the entry into the Euro zone, as well as the participation of the country in the European Energy Union formation, as well as in the formation of European Prosecutor’s Office. The Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva further stated that the Bulgarian administration plays an important role in the negotiation process and rely on the preparation of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council.

Tsestka Tsacheva, the Bulgarian National Assembly Chairperson, recently made a proposal as part of the closing declaration of the Conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments, held in the capital of Italy Rome. According to that proposal, the European Union in its role of defender of the human dignity and the fundamental rights should take serious measures for keeping the external land borders of the EU on the most affected routes.

The Bulgarian National Assembly Chairperson stated that the cooperation between the countries of transit passing should be better and solutions have to be reached concerning the migration processes and the sharing of burden between the countries that are affected by the migration flow. She further confirmed that Bulgaria, being an external border of the EU, is among the most affected member states of the union. In that situation Bulgaria managed to present itself as a responsible partner that behaves as a member of the Schengen Zone, which greatly contributes to the European security. That is why Tsestka Tsacheva stated that there is a need for strengthening the idea about Bulgaria entering the Schengen zone. The Schengen area enlargement will strengthen the borders of the country and will be a signal for the European Union’ unity against the terrorism.

In an interview for Dark Radio a few days ago, the Bulgarian Deputy PM and Minister of Interior Rumyana Bachvarova stated that Bulgaria is ready for Schengen and sooner or later that entry will become a reality. The Deputy PM further stated that the attitude expressed towards the membership of Bulgaria in the Schengen Area is changing and there is understanding now that Bulgaria is ready to be part of that travel free zone.

Around that time, the Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva had a meeting in Stockholm with the Morgan Johansson, Justice and Migration Minister of Sweden and Margot Wallström, the Foreign Minister of Sweden. During the meeting were discussed the efforts of Bulgaria to join the borderless area of Schengen. The Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria confirmed that Bulgaria relies on the support that Sweden can offer.

After the talks Meglena Kuneva stated that Sweden has committed to support Bulgaria for its Schengen bid in front of the other Nordic countries during the meeting of the European Council in June. Another aim at that meeting was the attraction of investments from Sweden into different projects in northwestern Bulgaria.

A few weeks ago Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the President of Croatia thanked Bulgaria for the support the country showed for the membership of Croatia in the European Union and NATO. That came as a result from the meeting between the presidents of Bulgaria and Croatia. The two countries keep as priority the accession to the Schengen area of Bulgaria and Croatia. The two countries are now to join efforts in achieving that goal.

Once a political issue, today the accession of Bulgaria into the passport free zone of Schengen is a matter only of meeting the requested technical criteria. In fact, the two presidents agreed that Bulgaria and Croatia have met that criteria a long time ago and are ready to be full members of this travel free zone of Europe. That has been recognized by both the European Commission and the European Parliament.

The two presidents also agreed that the increase in the migratory pressure at the external borders of the EU does require a European solidarity. They also talked about the sharing of burden between the EU member states. The entrance into the Schengen zone of Bulgaria and Croatia will unlock the economic potential of South Eastern Europe and will attract more investments.

In an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) in April, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said that there is an intention for Romania and Bulgaria to be given a horizon for entering the Schengen area. According to the minister the negotiation about the entering of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen zone is a matter of diplomacy. There are several aspects concerning that. One of the most important is the fact that Bulgaria is the external border of the European Union and thus Bulgaria has to have full entrance to the Schengen Information System in order to be fully efficient. If not the country cannot conduct the fight in an efficient way.

Another fact that the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov stated is that all reports that concern Romania and Bulgaria show certain progress. This means that there have been only positive reports. Yet, no serious developments on the accession issue are in progress. Still, there are positive signals about the intention of the other members of the Schengen zone to start certain allowance of the two countries membership in Schengen, starting at lifting the air borders.