Schengen Area

Peter Szijjarto, the Foreign Minister of Hungary, said on June 17 that illegal migration is one of the most serious problems facing the European Union and has announced that Hungary will fence off the border with Serbia - one of the main transit routes to Western Europe.

Bulgaria has fulfilled all technical requirements for accession to the Schengen Area and joining the border-free zone is a matter of a political decision, according to Yavor Haytov, Deputy Parliament Speaker.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev warned on Thursday that Bulgaria will be the most affected country in the event of a Greek default and deepening of the sovereign debt crisis.

Chairman of the Romanian Parliament's Special Joint Committee on Accession to the Schengen Area Senator Titus Corlatean has welcomed Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavasoglu, as part of the Turkish official's visit to Romania at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart.

Bulgarian Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva called for the joint accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Area, which will ensure a higher degree of security for the EU.

Tsacheva stated this during her meeting with the President of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies Valeriu Zgonea on Monday.

The three Augusta helicopters that are supposed to be patrolling Bulgaria's borders with Serbia, Macedonia, and Turkey have been grounded at the airport in Bezmer due to the lack of aviation insurance.

In November 2014 Bulgaria's Border Police unit launched a public procurement procedure for the insurance of the three helicopters, according to reports of Pressa daily.

President Klaus Iohannis on Monday welcomed Chairwoman of the Bulgarian Parliament Tsetska Tsacheva at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, with the two officials pointing out that the potential for further development of the bilateral relationship, particularly economic and regional development, has not been reached yet.

AGERPRES special correspondent Adina Panaitescu reports: The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), as well as Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen Area were debated during a trans-border dialogue with Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, held by First Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, together with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevleniev and Romanian Justi

Kapitan Andreevo, the checkpoint on Bulgaria's border with Turkey, has turned into the new front line in the war against the jihadist networks being waged by the West, according to an article published by Le Monde on Tuesday.

By Stathis Kousounis

Arabs, Chinese, Indians, Turks and Russians are among the tourists outside the Schengen area whose number has spiked in the previous four years, from 2010 to 2014, according to a survey published on Monday by the Intelligence Institute of the Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises (SETE).