Visas

There is no change in Austria's position on Bulgaria's accession to Schengen, the Austrian Chancellor announced before his visit to Bulgaria.

Karl Nehammer and Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner arrive in Bulgaria today. They have a meeting with President Rumen Radev, with whom they will visit the Bulgarian-Turkish border together.

"We support the membership of Bulgaria and Romania in Schengen, because the Balkan countries play a very important role for us," Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told the plenary hall of the European Parliament.

"Romania has no chance of entering Schengen in 2023", said the leader of the Romanian People's Movement Party (PMP) and member of the European Parliament, Eugen Tomac, in an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI). According to him, the government in Bucharest should consider suing the Court of the European Union, BTA reported.

"Serbia risks its own visa-free regime with the EU if it does not reduce the flow of migrants from third countries who travel without visas to its territory and then on to the EU", European diplomatic sources say ahead of the meeting of interior ministers in Luxembourg.

Following the Turkish delegations' call to solve visa-related problems, especially faced by Turks, the General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has approved a resolution envisaging reform in the Schengen Information System (SIS).

The Schengen visa-related problems of Turkish citizens, which has turned into an ordeal recently, are on Oct. 11's agenda of the General Assembly of The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Deputy Prime Minister for Public Order and Security and Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Demerdzhiev took part in a meeting dedicated to the enlargement of Schengen in Prague at the initiative of the Czech Presidency.

The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union has invited the Ministers of Internal Affairs of Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania to Prague on September 13 to discuss the accession of the three Balkan countries to the Schengen Area, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported citing Romanian MP Rares Bogdan.

European Union countries agreed Wednesday to make it harder for Russian citizens to enter the 27-nation bloc, but they failed to find a consensus on imposing an outright tourist ban in response to Russia's war on Ukraine.

The Kremlin has warned it will react if the European Union makes it harder for Russians to travel to the bloc as part of measures to support Ukraine. The idea of ​​banning Russian tourists in Europe has divided the EU countries, with some of them fully supporting it, and others fearing that it will close the door to Russian dissidents fleeing abroad.