Fernando Grande-Marlaska

Spain, holding the EU Presidency, remains non-committal about arranging an urgent Council meeting to vote on Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen membership.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska expressed Europe's strengthened stance with the integration of both countries but refrained from committing to a timeline, citing ongoing efforts.

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Ylva Johansson, reaffirmed her commitment to seeing Bulgaria and Romania integrated into the Schengen Area this year. Johansson expressed her optimism following a successful fact-finding mission in Bulgaria, emphasizing the readiness of both countries for Schengen accession.

People applying for visas to visit Europe's Schengen area will soon do so via an online platform, under a change adopted by EU foreign ministers.

The shift towards digitalization of the visa process will also do away with the need for applicants to get a sticker in their passport, meaning no more appointments at consulates or service providers' offices.

The European Union is ushering in a new era for Schengen visas, making the process fully digital. This move eliminates the need for physical stickers in passports, streamlining the application process, as reported by AFP.

The man alleged to have stormed two Spanish churches with a machete, killing a verger and seriously wounding a priest, was slated for deportation but had no prior convictions, officials said Thursday.

The bloodshed, which took place on Wednesday evening in the southern port city of Algeciras, shocked Spain and left locals reeling.

Spain has deployed troops after record numbers of migrants entered its north African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco.

Some 8,000 people have reached Ceuta in two days, Spanish officials say.

They say the migrants - who include about 1,500 minors - either swam around the border fences that jut out into the sea or walked across at low tide.

MADRID - Spain said it had plucked more than 200 migrants from the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday as the country's interior minister headed to Mauritania to try to boost cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration.