Macedonia

Serbian authorities have warned Bulgaria it should step up border controls to stem the flow of migrants trying to cross its western border, BGNES newswire quotes Serbian police as saying.

Serbia has not closed its southern border with Macedonia to migrants, the Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP) told B92 on Friday.

At a meeting in Zagreb on Thursday, the police chiefs of Austria, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia agreed to organize the joint transport of Middle Eastern migrants from the Macedonia-Greece border all the way to Austria, where they will have the chance to stay or continue their journey to Germany.

A joint EU and US assessment of whether Macedonia is ready to go into early elections is expected to influence a decision on whether to pursue an April 24 election date - or postpone polls until all reform priorities envisaged in last summer's EU-brokered crisis accord are met.

Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian and Austrian police chiefs have reached an agreement on joint registration of refugees on the Greek-Macedonian border.

The five countries agreed on Thursday to jointly organize the transport of refugees to Austria, allowing passage along the "Balkan route" only to refugees from war-torn countries.

The Palace of Culture and Sports in the Bulgarian city of Varna will host this year's edition of then men's volleyball European League finals between July 1 and 3.

This will be the first participation of Bulgaria in the tournament, with eight teams competing this year.

NATO should "have a land operation" along the Bulgaria-Turkey and the Greece-Turkey borders if its recently launched mission in the Aegean proves successful, Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said on Tuesday.

Unilateral measures won't achieve sustainable results in resolving the current migration crisis in Europe, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said.

The European Commission has approved an additional funding of EUR 10 M to help Macedonia improve its border and migration management capabilities in the context of the refugee crisis.

Calls coming from Central Europe for a "reserve border system" at Bulgaria and Macedonia's borders with Greece has been the main issue in a phone conversation of Bulgaria's Prime Minister with his German counterpart Angela Merkel.