Loss for hundreds of millions of euros strong> every year our economy suffers from not being admitted to Schengen by land. The queues of trucks at the borders continue, and only because of this we pay between 15 and 18% more expensive goods in the shops, informs BNT.
Over one billion BGN per year are the losses from the fact that our country is not a full member of Schengen. The most serious situation is not our northern border with Romania. On the "Danube Bridge" waiting on average between 14 and 16 hours to cross the border. The Union of International Carriers demanded that Bulgaria be quickly accepted fully into Schengen and that the losses decrease.
Here's what truck drivers have to say:
"The losses are enormous. I pay the driver 100 euros per day, as he is standing here today, I lose two hundred BGN just for him. Not to mention the car. Now we had big arguments, because we are with such goods, I am transporting sneakers, we had a gurulty from the expedition why we did not pass. we told her that there is internet, they should check that you wait at least 43 hours in the parking lot, but then you go, they see what the trucks are like and you pass another 6 hours".
"Leave the losses, sitting here for two or three days in the heat, in the cold, is enough. You left for somewhere and instead of getting there in three or four days, you get there in five or six - twice as much.
The amount of our non-acceptance in land Schengen is over one billion BGN and this is a startling figure.
"The main elements are the paid time of the drivers at the borders, the lost benefits of the Bulgarian enterprises and the fact that they cannot carry out activities because of the wait. Here is the time to share that, after all, the waiting time for Vidin Most 2 is 16 hours on average, which practically kills one working day for every single carrier.
The decision will be political and will not be made before the construction of the new European Parliament.
"We are going into the second half of the year. It's clear that for this to happen there needs to be a new European Commission, so the realistic time frame I think is from the end of the year for us to be full members of Schengen if our institutions work well.