Schengen Area

Russian tour operator ‘Pegasus’ cancelled its flights from three Russian airports due to visa problems. The company’s managing director, Anna Podgornaya, explained to local media that even though demand for Greek destinations is high, even ‘exceptional’, as she said, there were visa issues due to the Schengen area restrictions.

The EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said April 26 that Turkey would only get visa-free travel to the bloc once it has met all the required criteria.
 
Turkey has demanded its citizens be allowed to enter the European Union's passport free Schengen zone without a visa by June, in exchange for it taking back migrants from Europe.
 

The migration crisis in Europe and progress in the implementation of the related EU-Turkey deal have been on the agenda of a meeting of Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov with the Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok.

Bulgaria's Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova has called for equal access of all member states to the proposed Entry-Exit System of the EU to boost the efficiency of the fight against organized crime and terrorism.  

Turkey has fulfilled 61 of 72 criteria required for its citizens to travel to Schengen countries without a visa and plans to complete the adoption of the remaining seven international conventions and four laws before May 4, the date the EU Commission will outline its advisory report. 

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu has voiced Ankara's unease over the European Union's delay in releasing the 3 billion-euro refugee fund, calling on the 28-member bloc to be "more pragmatic" and overcome red tape.

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to lift visa requirements for the citizens of Ukraine for travel to the Schengen area.

In 2009, 484,209 Turkish citizens applied for a simple Schengen visa and paid a total of 29 million euros. In 2015, 900,789 Turks applied for Schengen visas and paid 54 million euros.

In seven years, the total amount paid by Turks for the simple Schengen visa amounted to 289.6 million euros.

Turkey's minister for European Union affairs and its chief negotiator with the bloc, Volkan Bozk?r, said if the EU does not grant Turkish citizens visa-free travel, Turkey could stop accepting migrants sent from Greece.

The European Commission thinks that Bulgaria and Romania have met all the requirements to join the EU's free-travel Schengen Area, a spokesperson for the EU executive has been reported as saying.