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The president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso declared that the passport-free travel area of Schengen will not open for Bulgaria and Romania in January 2014. In his interview for the television station TF1 in France in the mid November, Jose Barroso stated the expansion of the Schengen no visa area will be postponed as the issue was intermingled with various other issues concerning the immigration. Barroso confirmed that Romania and Bulgaria have fulfilled the technical criteria required but are still outside the Schengen zone as some of the EU member states opposed to that expansion of the Schengen zone and there was no unanimity among the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council members. Romania and Bulgaria have undergone the seven year transitional period after joining the European Union.

He further expressed a fear that the situation is such that the authorities of all countries should be careful not to provoke extremist movements. According to the president of the European Commission, the membership of Bulgaria in the European Union helped the country into setting various important reforms. Jose Manuel Barroso further confirmed that with the start of year 2014 and according to the European Union accession treaties and laws, the labor market in Europe will have to open for the citizens of Bulgaria and Romania as well.

During a meeting in Paris, the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria, Mr. Kristian Vigenin, confirmed in front of his French colleague Laurent Fabius that his country Bulgaria is ready to join the passport-free Schengen area. He claimed that Bulgaria has fulfilled all requirements in the proper way. At the same time, the Foreign Minister of France expressed the reluctance of his country to accept Romania and Bulgaria as part of the visa free zone.

Mr. Kristian Vigenin stated that his country has put a lot of efforts into integrating its Roma population and showed eagerness to work together with France in order to solve the problem with the population of Bulgarian Roma in France. The Foreign Minister of Bulgaria confirmed that the government is willing to have a strategic partnership with France including trade and French investments in Bulgaria. He also stated that Bulgaria is in need of support from France in order to deal with the refugee wave that is coming from Syria. At the same time the French Minister showed his positive attitude towards the invitation that was given to him and to the President of France Francois Hollande to visit Bulgaria for the 135th anniversary marking the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Foreign Minister of France opposed to Romania and Bulgaria getting into the visa free area of Schengen, as he fears for the security of the country and questions the ability of the police in the two wanna-be member states to preserve its own borders. The fears of the French Foreign Minister were aroused by the huge number of Roma migrants that live in camps outside of Paris. Several days after the statement of France, it was supported by another Schengen member state – Germany. The two countries are criticizing the border control in Romania and Bulgaria, as they think that people outside Europe will enter the two states and then go freely to the rest of Europe.

At the same time both Romania and Bulgaria are willing to sign the Schengen Agreement next year and thus allow their own citizens the chance to move freely across Europe. It should be noted that each country from the European Union can set a veto on the admission of a certain member state into the zone. Most probably Germany, The Netherlands and France will oppose the entry of the new member states Bulgaria and Romania which will take place before the end of this year. Currently there are temporary restrictions and passport checks that are expected to be lifted in January 2014 but there is no a guarantee that this will happen. On the other side, the European Commission have already threatened France with sanctions for its biased policy.

France has issues with the Roma population from Romania and Bulgaria, who have moved in the country and are not making efforts to integrate there. This however should have no connection with whether or not Romania and Bulgaria are ready to access the Schengen area. The two countries state that the French authorities should stop using their problems with the Roma population as an excuse and a reason to reject the two countries an entry to the visa free Schengen area. Bulgaria and Romania consider this type of politics as an election campaign lead to serve local issues.

Romania and Bulgaria are looking towards a membership in the Schengen area, however the two countries have been facing a strong opposition from France and the Netherlands. Even so, according to the European Commission the two countries are ready to become members of the passport free borderless zone of Schengen. According to the Bulgarian president, the delay in admittance of the country into Schengen zone is a politically motivated fact. The President confirmed once again that Bulgaria and Romania are technically ready to become members as they have been working on their borders and have been very efficient in their results. Bulgaria has already invested great funds on guarding the Schengen border and thus the country is expecting solidarity from the other countries in Europe.

According to Najat Belkacem-Vallaud, the French government spokesperson, Bulgaria and Romania have not fulfilled the requirements for getting a membership in the Schengen free travel zone. France showed once again that it is not ready and not willing to accept Romania and Bulgaria as members of the Schengen area, and it claims that other member state countries from the passport-free union are not willing either. At the end of September Manuel Valls, the French Minister of Interior Affairs, confirmed that his country have not filed the accession of Romania and Bulgaria into the agenda. The French Minister also pointed out that the Roma population from the two countries should be send back to Bulgaria and Romania, since it cannot integrate in the French style of living. This statement caused severe reaction and received strong criticism on the side of the European Commission.

Even so, Chair of former President Nickolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement Jean-François Cope demanded from the Head of State at the moment to declare officially the position of the country on the matter – France is against Bulgaria and Romania entering the Schengen area. The regulations allowed all European Union countries to postpone their labor markets opening for Romania and Bulgaria for a maximum period of seven years starting from the access of the two countries into the European Union back in 2007. Actually a great deal of the countries have already lifted these restrictions, however France is not one of them even if its deadline is in January 2014. France or rather some of its politicians firmly oppose the Romanian and the Bulgarian entry into the Schengen zone.

The president of the European Commission gave an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio in the middle of September, where he declared his support for Bulgaria to join the Schengen agreement zone. Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso said that Bulgaria should be given the opportunity and should become a member of the travel-free zone as soon as possible. The interview was provoked by the news that Great Britain plans to end the seasonal jobs it was offering to Bulgarians. According to the president of the European Commission, there should be a free movement of people in all member states of the European Union without any conditions to be laid.

Mr. Boroso put a stress on the fact that he wants all Bulgarians to know that the European Commission will support those who are willing to face a strong and united Europe. He declared that he will do everything necessary for the people from all member states of the union to feel that they have the same status. The president of the European Commission further stated that Europe respects all the democratic movements in Bulgaria including the protests against the government that lasts for three months already.

In a recent interview with the Bulgarian National Radio, the president of the European Commission declared that Bulgaria and Romania should be allowed to enter the passport free travel zone of the Schengen agreement. According to Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso, Romania and Bulgaria have met all the criteria required to enter the Schengen area and they should be given a chance. According to the president of the European Commission, the free movement of people will be a basic principle when labor markets are concerned in the European Union. Unfortunately, in May this year Romania and Bulgaria were rejected to enter the Schengen agreement after the Netherlands and Germany opposed on the grounds that the two countries are not ready and have issues to arrange such as corruption. Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso, however thinks that there should not be first and second class citizens in Europe and the region will be more strong when it is united.

The Schengen zone is an area of free movement and no internal border controls among the states that are its members. Currently there are twenty-five member states of the Schengen agreement. Four new members are waiting to be accepted in the Schengen area including Bulgaria and Romania, Liechtenstein and Cyprus.

Bulgaria decided to ask for direct assistance from the European Commission in connection with the Syria refugees situation. According to the Interior Minister in the country Tsvetan Yovchev, the Bulgarian administration will prepare the necessary documents that are required for that. The documents were expected to be prepared by the end of September or the beginning of October. The European Commission, which supports Bulgaria in its application to enter the borderless Schengen zone, is expected to help Bulgaria with the refugees’ situation. The refugees are expected soon to become more than 5% of the Bulgarian population. Without technical and financial help from Europe and the solidarity from the European Commission, Bulgaria will not be able to cope with that situation. According to the minister, the country will ask for some of the refugees to be directed to other countries in the European Union as well.

People in Bulgaria hope that their efforts and help in connection with the refugees will be noticed and appreciated, which will assist the country in its efforts to enter the passport free Schengen zone. Bulgaria went through a long period of applying to enter the Schengen area. Today the country has technical readiness and meets all the requirements, besides Bulgaria has proven that it could be a reliable outer border of the European Union.

Norway declared that it is not willing to accept Bulgaria and Romania as new members of the Schengen zone. The passport-free travel area might become a mirage for Bulgaria and Romania since Norway opposed the enlargement of the Schengen agreement. This news came in August, as the two countries were preparing for the discussions in December. However, Romania and Bulgaria are technically ready for their accession. Even so, the Norwegian politicians thing that the Schengen membership should be denied as the visa-free zone will face a higher crime situation. The politicians from Norway understand that the problems are made by the Roma population from Romania and Bulgaria and not by the regular citizens, but still the issue remains.

According to the European Commission, both Bulgaria and Romania are ready to enter the Schengen zone. The two countries have followed all the requirements that were set in order to be accepted in the borderless area. Currently Norway, the Netherlands and some of the other older members of the European Union are not willing to accept Romania and Bulgaria as new members of the Schengen zone. Their position is based on the grounds of corruption, lack of progress that concerns the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and poor border control.

A new requirement has been introduced by all countries that are member states of the Schengen Area. According to that requirement, people that are coming from countries outside this European passport-free zone should have a passport that is valid for at least three months beyond the date of their departure. This new rule entered into force on 19th July. The new change is officially known as regulation EU 610/2013 and it covers the countries from the Schengen zone and also Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria are not part of the borderless Schengen free-travel agreement zone yet. In order to become members of the Schengen zone, the three countries need to cover certain criteria. There is yet another requirement – the passports should be issued within the last ten years.

The Schengen zone aims to abolish the checks that are placed alongside the internal borders of the European Union, however at the same time it needs to tighten the control at the external borders, following a set of strict rules. The rules cover several areas like rules for people crossing the external borders of the European Union, same rules on short-stay visas, police cooperation and usage of the Schengen Information System.