Schengen Area

Witnessing the leaders of Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia share a moment of collective jubilation is not something that happens every day, especially in a region known for its past rifts and differences.

But some businesses - their access to European markets limited - are licking their lips at the prospect of a single market of roughly 12 million people.

The Greek authorities are always on alert at both land and sea borders to prevent illegal entry into the country

"The situation is not positive [and] I hope that it will be solved quite soon," he told BIRN in an interview.

Szunyog reiterated that the process led by the European Commission had concluded that Kosovo had met all of the conditions for visa-free travel into the EU's passport-free Schengen zone.

Ljubljana – The list of countries whose PCR and rapid antigen tests for coronavirus are recognised by Slovenia has been expanded by the government to include Bosnia-Herzegovina. Under certain conditions tests from countries not on the list will be also accepted.

The leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia have criticized Brussels for its slow EU enlargement, promising to continue with its own travel zone and business zone while waiting for the bloc to receive them.
"We know that there is fatigue from EU enlargement," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in an interview.

While in the migrant crisis of 2015, she said "we will get over it", today she says "we cannot receive everyone".

Hungary has reaffirmed its support for Bulgaria's entry to the Schengen visa-free area at a meeting between Bulgarian  Interior Ministry Boyko Rashkov and his Hungarian counterpart Sandro Pinter here on Friday. 

The European Union needs to be further consolidated because the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will not be the EU's last challenge, Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Thursday. "This pandemic will not be the EU's last challenge.

President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that the European Union of the future is, in Romania's vision, a project that is inseparable from the idea of unity and solidarity, and for a "more integrated" union there is need for consolidating the Eurozone and the Schengen area.