Agencies of the European Union

The EU will vote Wednesday on a vast overhaul of its immigration policies that would notably harden entry procedures for asylum-seekers and require all the bloc's countries to share responsibility.

The European Parliament will decide a series of laws forming the bloc's migration and asylum pact, based on a European Commission proposal first made in September 2020.

A recently unveiled Europol report has shown the pervasive influence of criminal networks in the European Union, particularly implicating Bulgarians, Romanians, Serbs, and Ukrainians in the most perilous operations related to human trafficking for labor and sexual exploitation.

Frontex and "Border police" have launched a joint operation aimed at tripling the number of EU border guards along the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

Following a months-long investigation that also involved the cooperation of Europol, police have busted a criminal gang and seized some 4,650 counterfeit travel documents that were intended to facilitate illegal migration.

Eleven people were arrested as part of the investigation, with police believing that they facilitated at least 50 cases of human smuggling and illegal migration.

In a bid to bolster border management and migration control, the European Commission (EC) has announced its decision to allocate 85 million euros to Bulgaria and Romania.

Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, is set to bolster border security in Bulgaria by dispatching between 500 and 600 of its personnel to the country, announced the agency's director during a visit to Bulgaria. The move aims to address migrant pressure and enhance border protection along the Bulgarian-Turkish and Bulgarian-Serbian borders.

Irregular immigration to the EU from Western Africa rose more than ten times on the year in January, according to the bloc's Frontex border agency, which expects overall arrivals to grow in 2024 and says halting the movement of people completely is impossible.

A joint European operation to repatriate  irregular migrants was organized on Wednesday by Greece along with Spain, Italy and Cyprus, in cooperation with the Hellenic Police and coordinated by the EU border agency, Frontex. 

Greece repatriated 20 Georgians and 28 Pakistanis whose applications for asylum had been rejected. 

Also this morning, reports of planted bombs were received at primary and secondary schools throughout Belgrade, and the police carried out checks at those locations. Children and employees have been evacuated from schools, and while some are waiting to return to classes, some schools have sent notices to parents to pick up their children.

Bulgaria invited specialists from the Dutch and Austrian customs services to monitor operations at the Turkish border to try to dispel concerns that hinder its bid to join the Schengen area for free travel, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told Politico last night.