Depending on the circumstances Bulgaria is either proud of being situated on crossroads between Europe and the Middle East, or it complains about it.  Speaking of road transport the country used to have benefits of its strategic position in the form of transit fares, vignette taxes, excise duty and others collected from thousands of trucks and other vehicles passing through the country.

However, Bulgarian border crossings have started to experience troubles in normal functioning. They have been stopping work or closing, causing a wave of mass discontent from both Bulgarian and foreign tourists, as well as drivers of heavy trucks, loaded with goods. This dissatisfaction was most clearly demonstrated two days ago, when hundreds of Bulgarian trucks blocked for hours all northern, western and southern border crossings of the country - the crossroads was blocked.

Dissatisfied with long queues and waiting at borders, carriers blamed customs and border authorities of poor organization. Criticism probably has grounds, especially given the fact media often report of failures of computer systems of border authorities, of countless police raids, arrests and dismissals of corrupt customs officials. All this suggests that the border crossings in this country are plagued by a number of problems - technical, professional, and organizational. All this ultimately affects travelers who are forced to endure the hardships of endless waiting, losses from the delays of deliveries, missing deadlines for important meetings, and whatnot.

But there are other reasons that cause hours of waiting at Bulgarian border crossings. These are security measures that have been significantly reinforced and rigorously applied since the start of the migrant crisis and boom in drug trafficking and other smuggling. Therefore, almost every single day there are reports about detained illegal migrants, smuggled goods, or seized drugs. It seems that soon these problems will not be solved, especially by Bulgaria alone, as it is nothing more than a transit country in most cases. But there are many other things that Bulgarian authorities could improve without waiting for help or approval from their European partners. They should make efforts to provide minimum comfort and basic amenities to people queuing up for long hours in their trucks or cars.

It is not so expensive to provide additional outdoor toilet facilities in cases when long queues of trucks and cars are formed or when there are longer vacations and many people start travelling to neighboring Serbia Macedonia, Turkey or Greece. Mobile food trucks could also offer food and drinks to waiting drivers.

Surely there are many other things that could be done like ambulances on duty, for example, which can also be done without great finances. Moreover, traffic to and from Bulgaria will obviously become more intense and probably border crossings will have to be modernized and expanded. This year Bulgarian tourism marked a record and next year expects even better results and more tourists. There is no doubt that the number of motorists will grow. This also means fresh money for Bulgarian economy and new jobs and the chance should not be missed because of purely bureaucratic reasons. A partial solution could be entering the Schengen Area as border checkpoints between Bulgaria, Romania and Greece will simply be removed. But the biggest problems are on the border with Turkey, especially in the summer when hundreds of thousands of Turkish people who live and work in Western Europe return to Turkey, passing through Bulgaria. This is what it means being on a crossroads between the West and the Orient.

English: Alexander Markov