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Belgium, one of the member states of the Schengen agreement, asked for a decision on the expansion of the zone that should be taken by the end of this year. At the end of May, the Foreign Minister of Belgium, Mr. Didier Reynders announced that his country would like to know whether the two countries Bulgaria and Romania will be accessed to Schengen or not. The border free travel area is expected to be expanded, but there is no certain dates on which that will happen. The Foreign Minister of Belgium along with the Foreign Ministry of Romania discussed the possibility for such decision of the expansion of the Schengen zone to be taken by the end of this year.

The process of expansion of the Schengen zone shall be approved after a unanimous vote made by all 27 member states of the European Union that take part in the Council for Justice and Home Affairs of the European Union. According to the predictions of the experts, Romania and Bulgaria will join the Schengen area together since they have already met the necessary technical requirements for entering the border and passport free zone.

The European Commission issues biannual overviews on the functioning of the area of Schengen, considered health-checks. According to the third biannual report that was released by the European Commission in the beginning of June, Bulgaria and its neighbor state Romania are ready to join the passport-free Schengen zone. The European Commission states that Bulgaria and Romania have successfully fulfilled the criteria for applying into the borderless area. Furthermore, the European Commission declared that it supports the efforts of the presidency that are made in that direction. Even so, the European Commission was yet not able to decide whether to lift the control that is made at the internal borders to the two countries.

Bulgaria has complied will all requirements that were laid in front of it in order to be accepted in the Schengen zone. That is why its efforts to become a member state of the Schengen agreement have been supported. At the moment the entry of both Bulgaria and Romania has been postponed. Hopefully, the two countries will be included in the passport free area at some point next spring.

The aim of the Schengen Information System is to collect and store information in accordance to the legislation system of each country. The system features more millions of entries that are called alerts and are usually covering lost identity documents, alerts for missing persons, banknotes and vehicles. The alerts contain certain information such as first and last name as well as the middle initial, sex and date of birth, nationality. The alerts also include information or whether the person is dangerous and armed, and what actions need to be taken if encountered. Bulgarian authority which is in charge for the entries is the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Bulgaria uses the Schengen Information System since the end of 2010.

The Schengen Information System does not collect information on the entries and exits of travelers. Bulgaria currently has such record on the entries and exits of the travelers, but currently that information is not exchanged between the national databases of these countries. Thanks to the new, second version of the Schengen Information System that was introduced in the beginning of June 2013, now more institutions will be able to use the data entered.

Hopefully Bulgaria will become part of Schengen Agreement in the spring of next year. The Schengen zone allows for border free travelling and transport of goods. Besides the free movement of people allowed by the lack of border controls, the Schengen zone is also associated with cooperation between police, judicial and customs authorities. The Schengen cooperation between all 27 of its member states allows for the free movement of people. The cooperation among all authorities is a necessity that emerged with the abolition of the internal borders. That is why was introduced the Schengen Information System, which forms the largest database on protecting the public security on the world. It allows for cooperation between the judicial authorities and the police and helps the management of the external border control. Bulgaria uses the Schengen Information System since the fall of 2010.

The Schengen Information System allows for the entries on missing or wanted persons, stolen or lost property and entry bans. The system could be accessed immediately by the police officers all over the countries that form the Schengen zone. Everything is done with one purpose – to help authorizes do their job in protecting people and fighting crime.

Besides SIS, was introduced the Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry or SIRENE, which allows for exchange of additional information between the states. SIRENE provides supplementary information on whether actions have been taken that concern wanted persons, missing persons, stolen vehicles, etc. The focus of the supplementary information system is on everything that goes on in Europe without its internal borders.

In the middle of June leading economists from Germany participated in a debate whether the common Euro currency is to be held responsible for the crises in Europe. The CEO of the Institute for economic research Ifo Hans-Werner Sinn stated that the introduction of the common currency was a huge mistake. In an interview for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he confessed that the Euro zone is in a situation where nothing positive can be made and declared that what the politicians do is completely wrong: the pouring of more money to bail out troubled countries is not a decision. In this way the debts are socialized and passed on to all taxpayers, while the cheap loans will never be repaid. He and the rest of the economic advisors state that the Euro zone needs was a mechanism for the closure of the insolvent banks. This will be the only way through which the risks of the banks will not be passed on to state.

However, is the end of the financial crises in Europe near? The experts do not have one opinion on the matter. Some see positive signs from the decrease of the unemployment levels in Spain and the delay in the recession in Europe, while others say that nothing is certain yet and that this could be just a temporary thing. Bulgaria is stable despite the political changes. The investors find the country appealing and that is why many of them are registering companies in Bulgaria and outsourcing their business in Sofia.

In the summer of 2010, the European Commission declared that Bulgaria is ready to implement the requirements that concern the protection of the personal information and can start entering data into the Schengen Information System. In other words, it was stated that the Bulgarian legislation is aligned to the requirements of the Convention for implementing the Schengen Agreement. That is why in November 2010 Bulgaria joined the Schengen Information System. The authorities are able to enter, to update and to take the appropriate actions in order to implement all activities connected with the signals from other countries in the Schengen zone. Bulgaria will be able to enter in the system signals that concern third parties once it becomes a full member of the Schengen agreement.

The individuals, whose data is entered in the Schengen Information System include people who need to be arrested under a European arrest warrant or extradition; foreigners who have a denial to enter the country; missing persons and people who have to be protected; people who are summoned to trial in connection with criminal proceedings; individuals that are subject of discreet surveillance or specific control. In Bulgaria the Schengen Information System will be administrated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It will also control the entering of the personal information data.