European Parliament backs Schengen membership for Romania and Bulgaria
Published at: 07/01/2019 09:53 am
MEPs adopted the report, which supports the Schengen membership for Romania and Bulgaria. The European Schengen Area is a zone comprising 26 European countries that have abolished passport and all other types of border control between them. The Schengen zone functions as a single country for international travel purposes, with a standard visa policy. Citizens and residents of the Schengen zone member states can travel with their ID card.
Both Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, but they had to develop their border control systems, to get a consensus among the other EU Member States.
Bulgaria aims to enter the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM2) and the European Banking Union during the summer of 2019. The jurisdiction meets the nominal criteria to adopt the euro (European common currency), while its currency, the Bulgarian lev, has been pegged to the euro, and they can be proud of the low inflation and healthy public finances. Jean Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, expressed the hope that Romania will become part of the Schengen Zone before October 2019, according to the Intellinews.
The decision of the MEPs does not mean that the two European countries will become members of the Schengen zone automatically, they still have to gain the support of the other countries' leaders.
However, the Schengen membership could give a substantial boost to the Bulgarian residency by investment programme. It means that only three of the most important countries with investors' immigration scheme left without Schengen membership in the EU: Cyprus, Ireland and the UK.
Applicants of the Bulgarian residency by investment program may invest in government bonds in exchange for the residence permit. The EU member State offers permanent residence permit, the minimum amount of investment is 511,292 EUR (BGN 1 million). The time frame of the investment is five years, and upon termination of the program, the residents can apply for the citizenship. Moreover, no further investment payment is required. There is a possibility to a fast-track option for the citizenship by investing an additional 511,292 EUR. Other advantages of the program that the family can be included in the application and there is no language knowledge requirement.