Schengen Area

The European Commission is intending to continue the monitoring reports prepared about Bulgaria and Romania, issuing a single document on a yearly basis, a spokesperson for the Commission has said.

At the same time no specific date has yet been set for the reports on both countries to be published, the Bulgarian National Radio quoted spokeswoman Mina Andreeva as saying.

Bulgaria has a clear economic and political interest in joining the Schengen Area and the accession in stages will be among the key goals of the government, according to Meglena Kuneva, Deputy Prime Minister for European Policy and Institutional Matters.

Deputy Prime Minister for European Policy and Institutional Matters Meglena Kuneva has told Romania's Ambassador to Bulgaria Anton Pacuretu that the accession to the Schengen area is an achievable target for both countries.

Romania's chamber of deputies on Monday gave its approval for prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into Valerian Vreme, a parliamentarian suspected of money laundering, abuse of office and bribery in relation to software licences for schools.

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.

In a move that is expected to ease immigration pressure on Greece’s eastern border, the Turkish Parliament on Thursday ratified a readmission agreement with the European Union.

Under the deal, which was signed by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels in December, Turkey will have to take back immigrants who enter the bloc illegally via Turkey.

The Turkish Parliament June 25 ratified the Readmission Agreement between Ankara and Brussels, in a step welcomed by top EU officials.

Secretary of State for European Affairs George Ciamba in Luxembourg on Tuesday participated in the General Affairs Council meeting, the discussions having focused mainly on the preparation of the Summer European Council meeting (June 26-27, 2014), granting the candidate status to Albania, the annual exercise European Semester of coordinating the economic policies in the EU and the