The European Commission believes that Bulgaria and Romania have complied with all requirements for accession to the Schengen area, EU Commission Spokesperson Mina Andreeva has said. She has added that now a unanimous decision should be made on the issue by EU member countries and news agencies have quoted her words. But is this a piece of news or a deja vu?

At the end of 2013 the former European Commission President Barroso had to announce that Bulgaria and Romania would not accede to Schengen on 1 January 2014. Germany, the Netherlands and France prevented the accession of the two neighbors to the free travel club of the European Union. Back then official Brussels also claimed that Bulgaria and Romania are ready to enter the area. Something like, “the boss says yes, the porter says no”.

In fact, this act of Schengen accession of the two countries was bound to the cooperation and verification mechanism and the reports it releases regularly. The deficits in the unreformed justice systems and in combating corruption and organized crime were the stumbling blocks in those reports which all the time accounted for progress though insufficient. It has however been repeatedly stated that the verification mechanism should not be bound to Schengen accession. Yes, but the Netherlands would see us in Schengen only after two positive reports! Mission impossible and Catch 22 in one!

In reality, the fears of the countries from the club of the rich had to do with possible mass migration that could put their social systems at risk. Various surveys though suggest clearly that Bulgarian immigrants do not exploit social welfare systems in recipient EU countries but on the contrary: they join the labor market, start paying taxes and integrate smoothly in the hosting economy. There is something else that has played a most negative role in the Schengen puzzle - the fact that starting at the beginning of 2014 restrictions were removed for the number of immigrants from new EU member states and this has given rise to fears that an inflow of working hands amid a crisis and unemployment would spell trouble.

Well, then real trouble knocked on the door: the huge refugee wave! It has turned out that democratic Europe is not at all prepared to handle such a thing and suddenly, Schengen principles have been shaken. This has reached the proportion of talking about possible suspension of the Schengen Agreement after a few countries introduced allegedly temporary border controls. It has turned out that in the meantime, Bulgaria has succeeded in protecting the EU outer borders as if it is part and parcel of Schengen, so it is sheer hypocrisy even to mention verifications and checks. This is how the free travel zone has turned from a goad into bait. So, don't be surprised if Bulgaria becomes part of Schengen soon. Well, there is only one step to that stage and Spokesmen Andreeva has named it: a unanimous decision by EU member states. Let's hope it is made!

English Daniela Konstantinova