In June 1985, in Luxembourg, not far from the Schengen village, five Western European states (the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and France) signed an agreement on the abolition of passport control between their countries. By the time this agreement entered into force, two more countries had entered into it - Portugal and Spain.
Over the following years, a very strong expansion of the Schengen area took place. The economic benefits provided by a single customs space led to the fact that in October 2012 the Schengen zone included 26 countries, namely: Belgium and Austria, Hungary and Greece, Germany and Denmark, Italy, Spain and Iceland, Lithuania and Latvia, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Malta, Norway and the Netherlands, Portugal and Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, France, Finland and the Czech Republic, Estonia, Switzerland and Sweden.
Does Bulgaria enter Schengen and what is the situation here?
As of October 2012, there were 4 more real candidates for entry into the Schengen zone:
Bulgaria, Schengen is expected from 2013, Cyprus - from 2016; Romania - since 2013 and Croatia - in 2013-2015, immediately after the country's accession to the EU.
The five EU member states that have already signed the Schengen agreement today are not yet part of the Schengen zone, as in these countries passport control has not yet been completely canceled (Ireland, Great Britain) or cancellation of it is still planned in the near future (Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania).
Romania and Bulgaria have been trying to get Schengen for a long time, but their entry into the Schengen zone has been repeatedly postponed, as some countries - members of this zone believed that the fight against corruption in these countries is ineffective.
It was decisive that Germany was protesting against the adoption of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen zone. All EU requirements were met in 2011, the governments of these countries, and, in particular, Bulgaria, emphasize. The Schengen for them, however, seems to be moved back indefinitely. Indeed, in Brussels there was not even a vote - the ministers only exchanged views. EU countries can return to the discussion of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen no earlier than the end of this year.
However, experts evaluated the chances of these states to enter the Schengen area this year as very low. Moreover, despite the desire to enter the zone that Romania and Bulgaria show, Schengen is closed to them by the active opposition of Germany, up to the promise to use it with its veto.
The head of the German Ministry of the Interior expressed his fear that non-EU citizens who are in Romania and Bulgaria could use the open borders for uncontrolled entry into the Schengen zone. Finland, Germany, and France are primarily concerned with the “refugees from poverty”, as well as the “gypsy issue”.
In addition, it must be borne in mind that entry requires the consent of all the countries participating in the Schengen agreement, and this, given the difficult economic and political situation within the European Union, is not an easy task.
However, in January 2012, the Bulgarian government unilaterally decided that a Schengen visa would be valid for entry into the country. Bulgaria Schengen, apparently, is all hopes to get this year.