News archive of January 2017

Movement of vehicles has been restored after protesting Greek farmers have managed to seal off European route E-79 for another time, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry says.

The traffic disruption has occurred near the Promachonas-Kulata crossing, at the Greek-Bulgarian border.

In an interview with Serbian tabloid Kurir on Tuesday, President Tomislav Nikolic said there is no reason for the ruling Progressives not to support him as their candidate in the upcoming presidential election, which is expected to be held no later than April this year.

An 8-year-old model from Greece is leaving her mark on the fashion industry in Germany. Panagiota Manafa from Trikala in central Greece recently signed her first model contract with a German agency and appeared on renowned catalogue “Otto”. As local website oichalialive.gr reports, the parent of the blue-eyed “angel” are proud of their daughter’s success.

Opposition parties on Tuesday slammed the SYRIZA-Independent Greeks coalition government after a leftist lawmaker said a discussion on a Greek exit from the euro should not be considered "taboo."

Speaking on Skai TV earlier in the day, SYRIZA MP Nikos Xydakis said that Parliament should be open to a discussion on Greece's prospects outside the eurozone.

Turkey's foreign trade deficit declined to $56 billion last year amid low oil prices and a slowdown in economic activity.        

The country's foreign trade deficit in 2016 decreased by 11.7 percent from previous year's $63.3 billion total, provisional data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed on Jan. 31.  

Representatives from top Turkish and Egyptian business chambers have come together in Cairo for the first time since a military coup in Egypt in 2013, calling for reviving bilateral economic and trade ties. 

Serbian and Greek PMs have agreed to form a high council that will meet in Thessaloniki this spring, where the governments will discuss strengthening relations.

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said in Belgrade on Tuesday that the two nations are connected by tradition, history, culture, and spirutual ties, and that Greece will be "stable" in its position regarding Kosovo.

Governor of the Central Bank of Austria and member of the ECB directors’ board, Ewadl Nowotny warned equated the departure of Italy and France from the common European currency with “economic suicide”.

NATO is of extreme importance to Bulgaria and Sofia backs all defense and deterrence effort of the alliance, President Rumen Radev has said.

Radev has made the remark during a visit to the NATO headquarter in Brussels, on the second day of his first foreign trip as head of state.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is likely to present an upcoming visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a show of support for himself to his supporters ahead of a referendum expected in April on reforms that will increase his powers, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said.