Category: Business Support

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.

The Information System of Schengen, known as SIS is a special database that is used by the countries in Europe, in order to distribute collected information on individuals. The system is used for the purposes of the border control and national security, as well as enforcement of law. In April was issued the second version of the system, which is set under the regulations of the European Commission. The data collected by the system is being shared among the countries that take part in the Schengen Agreement. Besides the five original countries including Germany and France, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as Luxembourg, later the Schengen Agreement was joined by twenty countries more.

Currently, the Schengen Information System is used also by Norway and Iceland, as well as by Switzerland, which are not members of the European Union. Hopefully, Bulgaria will join the Schengen zone in the spring of next year and will be able to share the information as well. At the same time, the United Kingdom and Ireland also take part in the Schengen Agreement under the Amsterdam Treaty regulations, which allows them to take part in the convention arrangements of Schengen. At this point the two countries can use the information to enforce law, but still it has border controls with the European countries.

Bulgaria has fully complied with all the requirements and criteria for being accepted in the Schengen area. This was admitted in the latest report of the European Commission that was focused on the area that requires no passports and visas. According to the report, the Commission will keep on supporting the efforts of Bulgaria and its neighboring country Romania to enter in the Schengen area, even if the member states have no one opinion about that entry. Unfortunately, Bulgaria and Romania do not have a deadline for their entry into Schengen zone, after being postponed for several times.

The two countries have been criticized because of the lack of progress in their fight against the organized crime and corruption and the insufficient results in the judiciary sphere. Bulgaria, as well as Romania, have to make efforts into improving their justice system. Once this is a fact, the two countries will be able to join the travel area of Schengen that comes with no borders. Currently, the people who live in and use the Schengen zone are around 400 million in number, according to the European Commission. By joining that passport free area, Bulgarian people will get many benefits – both from a political and from an economical point of view.

Earlier this month, the state of Andorra announced that it will introduce an income tax for the first time in its history. The small country, situated between Spain and France was made to do so under the pressure from its European neighbors that are struggling with tax evasion and avoidance to pay taxes, as BBC reported. The Prime Minister of Andorra Anthony Marty confirmed that the new law will come into force before the end of June. Until now, the legal and the physical persons in Andorra were not obliged to pay a tax on their income. With the new law that will be accepted, the state will comply with the international tax standards in Europe.

Andorra is a parliamentary principality state, but is represented by two heads of state – the President of the French Republic and the Bishop of Seo de Urhel from Spain. The state has a government since 1986 and is not a member of the European Union, but still uses the euro as its national currency and maintains special, tax-free economic relations with the Union. During their last meeting, the EU finance ministers agreed to start negotiations with Andorra, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino for the exchange of banking information, which is now considered a secret and could not be revealed. The European Commission aims to achieve exchange data policy on bank account holders throughout the European Union in order to prevent tax evasion.

Bulgaria will be supported by the European Commission in the country’s desire to enter the Schengen zone, which allows for passport-free trips. Bulgarian accession in the Schengen area was approved in the third biannual report on the Schengen zone functioning and the free movement for the period November 2012 – April 2013, which was issued by the European Commission. The full support from the European Commission is something that the country and its people need. Bulgaria, along with Romania, was blocked from entering into Schengen by the Council of Foreign Ministers, although in June 2011 the same council announced that the two countries are ready to join.

The possible access of Bulgaria into the Schengen zone will be very positive for the business, as it will lead to easier and more trips. At the same time, the local tour agencies will be able to organize more combined holidays. By becoming a member of the Schengen agreement, Bulgaria will develop into a transit country with two main directions – from Turkey and Greece towards the countries in Western Europe and from the countries in Western Europe to the resorts in Turkey, Greece and hopefully Bulgaria. Moreover, Bulgarian entry into Schengen will allow for the development of the general economic collaboration in the area, unification of the requirements and standards applied, integration of the value added tax and more freedom for positioning the business centers.