Bulgarian business and full membership in the Schengen area. Business Barometer 2025

The study focuses on the attitudes of Bulgarian enterprises towards Bulgaria's full membership in the Schengen area, based on data from the "Business Barometer 2025" survey.The study covers 800 organizations from all groupsmicro, small, medium, and large enterprises.The main objective is to determine how Bulgarian businesses assess entry into the Schengen area and to what extent the size of enterprises influences assessments of the potential economic effects of the removal of border controls and other accompanying restrictions.In its theoretical framework, the study examines the historical development of the Schengen area and highlights the expected benefits identified in existing European and international studiesreduced logistics costs, increased competitiveness, facilitated movement of goods and people, and promotion of investment.The parallel with Croatia and Romania shows similar preliminary attitudes, particularly dominant neutrality and moderate optimism.The methodology includes a standardized questionnaire with six possible answers regarding the expected effect of membership.Descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests (Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney) are applied for analysis to check the influence of company size and market orientation on the assessments.The comparative analysis confirms that the prevailing attitude is one of moderate optimism, which is stronger among companies with significant international activity.The expected benefits are mainly related to reduced transport costs, faster border crossings, the development of tourism, and the attraction of new investors.Key challenges are also identified: increased competition, the need for infrastructure investment, administrative adaptation, and the potential risk of additional labor mobility.Bulgarian businesses view membership in the Schengen area as moderately positive but not crucial for economic activity.The biggest problem remains the high level of ignorance, which calls for more active information campaigns, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.Membership offers significant opportunities, but their realization depends on effective institutional policies and improvement of the business environment.