Schengen Area

European Commissioner on Immigration Dimitris Avramopoulos said Europe was at the high point of the refugee and security crises during a press briefing in Brussels. He added, however, that the two should not be connected, while stressing that Europe would remain united in the face of these two crises. ‘To those who want to divide us we respond with more solidarity, cohesion and strength’.

Turkish authorities have begun the distribution of new biometric identity cards in the Central Anatolian province of K?r?kkale, which was selected as the pilot province for the program.

The new "smart" cards, which contain chips, will replace the old versions, which were bigger and contained no information beyond the basic facts printed on them.        

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has voiced suspicions over whether the EU will fulfill its promises as part of the Ankara-Brussels migration agreement and grant Turkish citizens visa-free travel in the Schengen area. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that his country was "long overdue" for a Schengen visa agreement.

The agreement between the EU and Turkey on stemming the flow of irregular migrants officially entered into force on Sunday.

The deal, which had been agreed in principle earlier in March, was finally approved at a meeting between EU leaders and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday.

The European Council has said an agreement was reached between all 28 countries of the bloc and Turkey on a deal that is expected to ease pressure that hundreds of thousands of migrants have been applying on Europe over the past year.

Now unanimous agreement between all EU HoSG and Turkey's PM on EU-Turkey Statement

? Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) March 18, 2016

The heads of state or government of the member states of the EU agreed on a joint position which will be presented to Turkey in attempt to reach a deal on stemming the migrant influx into Europe.

The EU leaders agreed the common position at the meeting of the European Council in Brussels, which began on Thursday and is continuing on Friday.

Balkan neighbours Bulgaria and Macedonia have agreed to conduct joint air and land operations for border control and protection in the context of the migration crisis in the coming days, the government in Sofia announced on Thursday.

The agreement was reached in a telephone conversation between Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov.

Bulgaria has called again on the EU to recognize the need for protection of the country's land and maritime borders with Turkey from a possible shifting of migration inflow following the closure of the Western Balkans route.

Greek Cyprus threatened on March 15 to derail a proposed EU deal with Turkey to curb the flow of migrants to Europe, insisting on longstanding demands including that Ankara recognize its government.
EU President Donald Tusk, meanwhile, said the deal needed to be rebalanced to be accepted by all 28 member states and EU institutions.