Law enforcement in Europe

The European Commission will give Turks "conditional approval" to travel to the Schengen zone without visas, the BBC has reported, quoting "sources."

The British broadcaster said on its website that "the move is part of a deal in which Turkey is taking back migrants who have crossed over the Aegean Sea to Greece."

Even though Greece has improved its record considerably since first being criticized by Brussels, there are still "some deficiencies" in its border management, European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said on Monday.

Germany will ask the European Commission to allow an extension of temporary border controls within the Schengen zone of passport-free travel beyond mid-May, Interior Minister Thomas De Maiziere said on Saturday.

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Sweden have proposed to the European Commission to extend temporary controls at the internal borders of the Schengen Area to tackle migration flows more efficiently, Die Welt reported on Saturday.

An operation by the Bulgarian authorities that led to the dismantling of an illegal workshop for counterfeiting of 100 euro banknotes has drawn praise from Europol.

A joint attempt by France and Germany to build a so-called "emergency brake" for future visa-free travel agreements with non-EU countries such as Turkey has led to debate as the attempt has been revealed only days before the EU's executive arm is to decide on May 4 whether to recommend that member states approve the visa waiver scheme by the end of June.

The distribution of new biometric passports containing chips, which are necessary to travel to Schengen countries, will start on June 1, with the government working on the necessary legal regulations. 

The new passports are among the 72 criteria required by the body for granting visa exemption to Turkish citizens in light of a Turkey-EU migrant deal signed on March 20.

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.  

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

The European Parliament approved on Thursday the new directive on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data in the EU for fighting terrorism, trafficking and other types of serious crime.

The directive will oblige airlines to hand national authorities passengers' data for all flights from third countries to the EU and vice versa, the European Parliament said in a statement.