The European garden of paradise – Schengen – and why Bulgaria and Romania are kept out

“On the Barricades” s06e04

The Schengen is a visa-free travel zone across a community of European nations, of which Eastern Europeans are denied the privileges of membership. The rejection of the latest attempt to join was decided officially for Bulgaria and Romania on December 7. Why are Romania and Bulgaria treated like second class European citizens in this respect and where does the divide come from?

In this episode hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat discuss the history of these countries in relation to the EU and now Schengen sphere, and the economics and politics of Bulgaria’s and Romania’s trading everything away and bending over backwards to conform to the EU’s demands. What about the movement of migrants, and the xenophobic rhetoric in Austria which becomes mirrored in Romanian society? Meanwhile the problem remains of whether Bulgaria has the basic state-institutional functioning to be ready to enter the Schengen zone, given how deteriorated and corrupt the police and border officials are.