Strasbourg

Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski and opposition leader Zoran Zaev made on Tuesday and Wednesday another attempt at solving the political crisis into which the country plunged earlier this year.

This time, talks were held in Strasbourg, with the EU's regional policy commissioner Johannes Hahn and MEPs Richard Howitt, Ivo Vaigl and Eduard Kukan acting as brokers.

Hours-long talks in Strasbourg between Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and opposition Socal Democrat leader Zoran Zaev ended at 3.30am Wednesday without resolution to Macedonia's political crisis.

The three MEPs that facilitated the dialogue said they heard frank discussions from both leaders and extracted a commitment to meet again, however.

By Jonathan Stearns

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he expects an international agreement unlocking emergency aid for Greece to be reached by early next month.

The second meeting of the leaders of Macedonia's four biggest political parties aimed at resolving the political crisis in the country ended inconclusively on Monday, telma.mk reported.

The leaders agreed to meet again on 26 May.

Daily Kathimerini reports that the Greek Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government must decide whether it wants to take legal recourse for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum. A confidential memo sent to the Ministry of Culture by three global lawyers of the Doughty Street Chambers encourages Greece to take the UK to court over the sculptures.

MEPs called for more measures to prevent the loss of migrant lives in the Mediterranean, including more funding for search and rescue missions, during the plenary session on April 27-30.

STRASBOURG - The European Parliament (EP) commended at a plenary session in Strasbourg the progress Albania has made in the process of EU integration, but criticized Prime Minister Edi Rama for his speculation on unification with Kosovo.

By Esteban Duarte & Ben Sills

The euro area risks fueling extremist nationalist groups with its hard-line approach to negotiations with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, according to the Greek premier?s Spanish ally, Pablo Iglesias.

The European Parliament has voted positively on the implementation of a new system for emergency calls from vehicles - eCall.

The new devices will be directly connected to local rescue authorities and will need to be placed in each and every new vehicle up until March 31, 2018.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Tuesday said that Romania has the support of the European Commission and the European Parliament concerning the accession to the Schengen area, however it still has to persuade "one or two member states" which "still have reserves" in this regard.

Photo credit: (c) Angelo BREZOIANU / AGERPRES PHOTO