Home Affairs

Bulgaria and Romania are poised to become partial members of the Schengen area starting March 31. The European Commission announced that the Schengen rules will apply in both countries, signaling the elimination of border controls at internal air and sea borders.

Legal migration to the European Union will have to increase by 1 million people a year to make up for losses in the bloc's ageing workforce, the EU's home affairs chief said on Monday.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is scheduled to meet with Ylva Johansson, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, at the Migration Ministry on Monday at 11.30 a.m.

Following the meeting, he will address an event focused on "European Solutions to the Common Challenge of Migration." [AMNA]

US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the United States was considering adding four countries to its visa-free travel program for up to 90 days, Reuters reported.

We have four candidate countries in mind: Israel, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania, Mallorca said yesterday at a forum in the tourism industry.

The Commission is not currently going to respond to Greece's request for financing the activity of the Greek Coast Guard to the tune of 15.8 million euros.

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued 5,693 irregular migrants, most of whom were pushed back by Greece, from the Aegean and Mediterranean seas in the first half of 2021.

The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, is on a two-day visit to the Greek islands of Samos and Lesvos, marking the allocation of over a quarter-billion euros of EU funds to the Greek state towards construction of new migrant reception facilities on the Aegean islands.

A European Commissioner on a visit to Bosnia on Friday called for all parts of the country to share the burden of migration equally - in an implicit dig at Bosnia's Serb-led entity, which has refused to host migrant camps.

The agreement consists of only three articles. First, a ceasefire starting from Friday March 6. Second, a security corridor will be established between Syrian rebels and government forces. Third, Russia and Turkey will jointly patrol the security corridor from March 15.

The new deal touched on the migrant crisis but did not include a solution.

The European Parliament adopted the Commission's proposal to reinforce the European Border and Coast Guard Agency with a standing corps of 10,000 border guards by 2027.