Law enforcement in Europe

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.

The last border checks in Croatia have been abolished after the country's accession to Schengen.

Internal border control at Croatian airports for flights from member countries of the free movement area was lifted.

"Romania and Bulgaria fulfill the criteria for joining Schengen. I am concerned about Austria's reputation in front of our European partners," Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen said in a conversation with the EU's permanent representative in Austria, Martin Selmayr.

Montenegrin police director assistant Dejan Knezevic in his office in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro

Knezevic was arrested as part of a large-scale investigation of police links with the notorious Kavac drug gang, which has led to 12 current and ex-police officers' arrests and to national warrants for the arrest of three others.

At the moment, the examinations show that the painting by Jackson Pollock, which was discovered in Bulgaria by the Main Directorate "Fighting Organized Crime", is an original. This was stated on the Bulgarian National Television by the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Petar Todorov.

Bulgaria will be the subject of a new report summarizing the country's achievements since 2019, when the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism was terminated. This new report should show progress on the rule of law.

A human stands little chance of passing undetected.

Pero Ruzolcic, head of the border police in Tovarnik, said the upgrade began well before Croatia joined the EU in mid-2013.

And far from a sign of teething troubles, long queues at the border in the days after Croatia joined the Schengen zone were much as expected during the festive season.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer received Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte yesterday in Vienna to discuss the topic of migration. Austria and the Netherlands opposed in December the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area and, it seems, continue to be on the same wave, the Romanian information site "Ziare" commented today, quoted by BTA.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has publicly called on the EU to finance the construction of a 2 billion euro fence along the Bulgarian-Turkish border, where more and more migrants are crossing into the EU. The proposal was repeated by the Austrian permanent representative during the meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday.