For the majority of Bulgarians, the half-hearted accession to Schengen is not beneficial, but even harmful

The majority of Bulgarians believe that the half-hearted decision on Schengen taken by the Denkov-Gabriel government is not only not beneficial to our country, but even harmful. This is the result of a nationally representative survey by the Gallup agency, which examines the mood of the population regarding the partial entry into the area of free movement - only by sea and air from 1 April 2024.

The independent survey, conducted between 11 and 19 January 2024 among 807 people using the face-to-face method with tablets, shows that only full Schengen membership, i.e. the inclusion of land borders, is considered a success, while dispelling myths about the expected influx of migrants.

The results show that only less than a third of Bulgarians see real benefits from the country's semi-autonomous access to Schengen by air and sea. Nearly 40 per cent believe that the April 1 decision will neither benefit nor harm Bulgaria, and about 15 per cent say it will harm the country.

Supporters of the government are rightly positive.

The prospect of full Schengen membership is much better appreciated. Exactly half of Bulgarians say that full Schengen membership will benefit Bulgaria. About one-fifth continue to believe that it will not benefit the country, but that it will not harm it either. For a part of the population, the decision will bring real harm to the country.

Bulgaria's entry into the Schengen area was also to some extent linked to the refugee issue. According to the poll, for more than half of Bulgarians it is more important that Bulgaria does not have to take in more refugees, even if it means staying outside Schengen. For about 25%, it is more important that Bulgaria should join Schengen, even if it means having to accept more refugees in the country.

We should point out that, in the words of the Prime Minister, Acad. Nikolai Denkov, Bulgaria has made no new commitments to take in refugees.

The question hardly exhausts the range of possibilities, but it says enough about the two opinions expressed in our country on the subject. People with less favourable life horizons, older people, people who live in smaller settlements, people who vote for opposition parties, etc., are also more fearful.

This article was translated with the support of DeepL.