Law enforcement in Europe

"Bulgaria has done its homework for Schengen, there are no obstacles to its membership." This was stated by the Vice President of the European Parliament, Evelyn Regner, on Nova TV.

A series of raids carried out simultaneously across Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Germany on May 24 resulted with the arrest of "37 members of a highly violent criminal cell from the Western Balkans," Europe's law enforcement agency, Europol, stated on Friday. 

Europol has supported the Romanian Border Police (Poliția Română de Frontera) in dismantling an organized crime group involved in migrant smuggling. The Bulgarian General Directorate Combating Organised Crime (Главна Дирекция Организирана Престъпност) and the German Federal Police in Waidhaus (Bundespolizeiinspektion Waidhaus) were also involved in the operation.

The Netherlands is not against Bulgaria's entry into Schengen, but expects more progress from the country on the terms of accession. This was stated by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, to Bulgaria's National Television in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, where the Council of Europe summit was opened yesterday.

Will you support Bulgaria for Schengen?

Today, the European Commission presented a new report on the state of the Schengen area, in which it once again expresses its support for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen by the end of the year, BTA reported.

With the support of Eurojust and Europol, the Regional and District Prosecutor's Office in Dobrich together with the Main Directorate "Fighting Organized Crime", the police and the prosecutor's office of the city of Heilbronn, Germany, have taken action against an organized criminal group for human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, announced the Prosecutor's Office.

Austria will maintain its veto on Schengen expansion, which it imposed on Bulgaria and Romania, until it sees a "sustained decline" in the number of asylum seekers, said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in an interview cited by Politico.

Within the framework of the visit to Austria, Deputy Prime Minister for Public Order and Security and Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Demerdzhiev held a meeting with his colleague Gerhard Karner, Federal Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Austria. The emphasis in the talks was placed on the recent positive resolution of the issue of Bulgaria's Schengen membership.

Kosovo citizens will be able travel freely to the EU's passport-free Schengen zone by the start of 2024 after European Parliament members approved the removal of the visa regime on Tuesday.

Kosovo passport holders will be able to travel to the EU without visas for 90 days in any 180-day period.

After Austria decided to extend checks on its internal Schengen border yet again, the Italian home affairs minister has assured his Slovenian counterpart Italy is not planning to impose controls on its border with Slovenia despite having declared a state of emergency due to a surge in migrants.