Right to Move Within EU?

Letters to the Editor | July 17, 2013, Wednesday // 15:30

Dear Sirs,

I departed from the Bulgarian city Ruse on 29 April 2013 Monday morning at 11 AM by coach. The coach was coming from Varna and final destination was Prague. There were some 15 passengers on board. I was going to Bucharest.

At about 11.30 the coach was at the exit land border of Bulgaria just before the bridge which separates Bulgaria and Romania. We crossed the border without any checks and crossed the bridge after that. At 11.45 we were at the entry point of Romania north bank of the Danube River.

The coach stopped. An officer came on the coach for the passport check. I noticed all the passengers were having Bulgarian ID card except me.

I gave the officer my 10 year UK passport. He checked the photo page carefully in a way he did not do to Bulgarian passengers and asked me in Turkish language where I was coming from. I said Ruse. Then he asked to see my Turkish ID card. I said I do not have Turkish ID card, my passport is EU passport and good enough to travel within the Union.

I was in the middle of the coach. He finished collecting the ID cards and asked me to get off the coach with my luggage. I asked him the reason; he said “you are not going anywhere unless you show me your Turkish ID card”. All the conversation was in Turkish language despite the fact that I was having a UK passport. I asked him why he did not question anybody on the coach. He said they are Bulgarian citizens they have right to travel in this area.

I got off the coach and he took me the small passport control booth. Here he spoke to his colleague. He asked me again to produce my Turkish ID card. I repeated the same. I asked his name he said Dimitri. I noticed the passengers with the car only showing their passport or ID card from the car window and passing through the border without hand examination. I did not understand this hostility towards me.

There, he kept me waiting for about 20 minutes. I asked him again why my UK passport is not good enough to travel. He said “this is Bulgarian and Romanian border. The only people travel free here is east Europeans. UK does not give us free travel rights; therefore we will not recognize their right to free travel.” He was very hostile to me.

20 minutes later they delivered the ID cards and my passport. Before I left the area, I asked him whether he is Bulgarian officer or Romanian officer. He said he is Bulgarian.

* European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States amending Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 and repealing Directives 64/221/EEC, 68/360/EEC, 72/194/EEC, 73/148/EEC, 75/34/EEC, 75/35/EEC, 90/364/EEC, 90/365/EEC and 93/96/EEC.

Right to move and right of residence for up to three months

All Union citizens have the right to enter another Member State by virtue of having an identity card or valid passport. Under no circumstances can an entry or exit visa be required. Where the citizens concerned do not have travel documents, the host Member State must afford them every reasonable means in obtaining the requisite documents or having them sent.

Regards

Mr. Sahin Lim
Glasgow

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