For Bulgaria and Romania, the costs of not being full members of the Schengen area are counted in billions of euros. The transport and tourism sectors of both countries are most affected and checks at land borders create huge barriers for Romanian and Bulgarian companies, restricting their competitiveness and preventing them from fully reaping the benefits of the single market

Non-full membership in the Schengen area costs Bulgaria more than EUR 834 million per year. Romania loses EUR 2.32 billion in annual revenues from not participating fully in Europe’s border-free regime, with losses for its transport operators amounting to another 90 million annually due to delays at the country’s land borders.

The figures were presented at the conference The cost of non-membership of Schengen for the Single Market – impact on Bulgaria and Romania, which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria on 24 September. The event was jointly organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)and the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA).

  • @absquatulateEnglish
    6•3 months ago

    This is what you get when you combine racist Austrian politicians with crooked Romanian ones. The Austrians wanted to look good to the racists at home, and our cronies wanted to keep their lines of cash from customs ( which are very, very lucrative ). They settled on allowing air passenger shengen, which was a win-win-win ( for all but the businesses ): Austrians get to say at home that the immigrants are at bay, Romanians get to keep their crooked customs and public pressure is also gone because people get simpler transfers in airports.