Schengen Area

In about two months Bulgaria will have a wire fence built along 146 km of the country's border with Turkey, preventing illegal migration flow, Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova has said.

Bachvarova, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev on Saturday inspected the entire length of the fence built so far along Bulgaria's border with Turkey. 

BRUSSELS - The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday proposed that the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament lift visa requirements for citizens of Kosovo for short stays in the Schengen area.

The Commission also presented a positive assessment "confirming that Kosovo has fulfilled the requirements of its visa liberalisation roadmap," an EC statement said.

Kati Piri, the rapporteur for Turkey at the European Parliament, has said she does not believe visa-free travel for Turkish citizens will be realized in the short term as Turkey will not be able to fulfill the remaining criteria by a July deadline, BBC Turkish has reported.

Greece’s citizens are forced to go through passport control within Schengen area, while European Commission suggests the lifting of visa requirements for Turkish citizens who travel to EU.

Bulgaria's government on Wednesday gave the green light for spending BGN 3 M (EUR 1.5 M) to increase the country's preparedness to join the EU's free-travel Schengen Area.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed the extension of emergency border controls inside the passport-free Schengen area, declaring that the tighter checks were justified by shortfalls in Greece's management of the European Union's external border.

A senior Turkish official has expressed confidence that Turkey will fulfill the final five criteria after the EU's executive arm said on May 4 that Turkey has met most of the 72 criteria needed for a visa waiver, inviting member states and EU lawmakers to endorse the move by June 30.

The European Commission proposed a 6-month extension of emergency border controls in the Schengen area for five countries, Wednesday.

The European Commission has proposed to extend for up to six months temporary controls at internal Schengen borders in five Member States which attract the majority of refugees and migrants streaming into Europe.

The European Commission on Wednesday recommended to the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament that Kosovo should be transferred to the visa-free list for short stays in the Schengen zone.

It said that Kosovo has fulfilled the requirements of its visa liberalisation roadmap.