Visas

Temporary border controls set up inside the European Union's free-travel zone to cope with the migration crisis should be extended beyond a November 15 expiry, the European Commission proposed on Tuesday.

The Bulgarian government has allocated an additional BGN 20 M to three southeastern regions where a fence is being built along the border with Turkey.

There is no chance of Turkey being granted visa-free access to the EU before the end of the month, but liberalization could come when the present storm in the country calms down, according to an adviser to the EU's foreign policy chief. Turks might be able to travel by early 2017, Nathalie Tocci says.

The member-states of the EU reached an agreement in principle on Wednesday to give Georgians the opportunity for visa-free travel but postponed the implementation of the programme until stronger guarantees against a sudden migrant influx are negotiated, reported Reuters.

Representatives of EU member states that are not part of the Schengen borderless area are set to meet in Polish capital Warsaw on Monday, local media report, citing the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

The meeting will bring together officials from Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania with several countries that are part of the area.

Hungary has partly backtracked on its strong support for Bulgaria's entry into the Schengen borderless area, with an official saying the accession criteria should be met first.

The position announced by government spokesman Zoltán Kovács has been reported by Brussels-based website EurActiv.

Slovenian PM Miro Cerar accused Greece of failing miserably at protecting the external borders of the EU in an interview to German newspaper Die Welt. ‘The Greeks are not sufficiently guarding the EU Schengen borders, but are receiving financial aid for policing without using this help’, he said.

Greece needs to do more to secure the Schengen external border, Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar has said adding that failure to do so could mean exit from Europe's 26-nation zone of passport-free travel.

BELGRADE - EU countries cannot imprison illegal migrants just for crossing borders inside the passport-free Schengen area, the bloc's top court ruled Tuesday, in a new blow to efforts to crack down on the migration crisis.

BELGRADE - The European Union has toughened its visa regime for Ukrainians as verification of applicants' documents in consulates has become more rigorous and the number of refusals for multiple visa claims has rapidly increased, Kiev-based newspaper Vesti wrote.