Romania and Bulgaria: inferior Europeans

“On the Barricades” s05e56

In this first installment of this weekend’s release of “On the Barricades”, we discuss in-depth a recent piece of news about opposition posed by some EU countries to Romania’s acceptance into the Schengen zone– a block that has a decade-or-so long history. Hosts Maria Cernat and Boyan Stanislavski examine the grounds on which Romania and Bulgaria are left on the doorstep of the EU in this way, in terms of broken state institutions and corruption, as well as these countries’ exploited position in the sphere of the EU.

1:40 Background on Romania entering the Schengen space
18:20 Where state institutional weakness and corruption in Bulgaria and Romania comes from
26:40 Indications of improvement from 10 years ago in Bulgaria?
33:28 Maria’s analysis
30:22 Looking back on the hysteria about the wave of migration in 2013-5
38:00 Change? Likely at Eastern European countries’ expense