Schengen, Luxembourg

The European Parliament voted for "access" of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen visa information system. This will allow both countries to check through the new visa system for third-country nationals without, however, being able to enter, modify or delete data, reported BGNES.

It took just a week for the EU to express second thoughts over one of its most precious principles: the acquis communautaire, the body of EU legislation, rules and decisions that every member -and prospective member, like Turkey- has to follow in order to be accepted in the family. 

Austria has introduced controls of trucks at its eastern border after the recent tragedy in which 71 refugees lost their lives in a truck driven by traffickers.

Since Sunday evening, Austria has been implementing checks that were in place before the Schengen Agreement came into force.

Hungarian police used tear gas to prevent some 200 migrants to leave a reception center near the border with Serbia on Wednesday, AFP reported.

The police stepped in after migrants tried to leave the refugee registration center in Roszke without being fingerprinted. A police spokesman at the scene told AFP the sitiation has calmed down following the incident.

Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva called for dissociating Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen Area and the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) of the European Commission.

According to Kuneva, the accession of Bulgaria should not be made dependent on the CVM, which monitors the progress of Bulgaria in the areas of judicial reform and the fight against corruption.

President Klaus Iohannis says Romania belongs in the Schengen Area, as it meets the criteria of this free movement space and any controversies about it are merely political.

Foto: (c) ALEX MICSIK / AGERPRES FOTO

Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov presented Wednesday a booklet on Bulgaria's preparedness for accession to the Schengen Agreement.

Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Titus Corlatean spoke at the Annual Meeting of the Romanian Diplomacy on Wednesday about the objectives of the Romanian diplomacy in the period ahead and stressed that the relation with the United States remains the 'cornerstone' of the Romanian foreign policy.

Serbian media sources reported on Wednesday that 22,500 Serbian citizens applied for asylum in EU countries in 2013 a 17-per-cent increase on the figure for 2012.

Ivan Gerginov, Serbia’s assistant commissioner for refugees and migration, said the hike would not affect Serbia’s visa-free regime with the EU Schengen area.

Italy's Ambassador to Bulgaria Marco Conticelli has vowed support for the Schengen bids of Bulgaria and Romania during Italy's Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Italy holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in the period July-December 2014.