Strasbourg

STRASBOURG - Pristina's application for Council of Europe (CoE) membership is not on the agenda of Wednesday's meeting of the organisation's Committee of Ministers, it has been confirmed to Tanjug.

STRASBOURG - The European Parliament passed on Wednesday a resolution on implementation of the EU common foreign and security policy.

The section on Serbia calls on Belgrade to align with the bloc's foreign policy.

The resolution was carried with 407 votes for, 92 against and 142 abstentions, with a large number of amendments rejected during the vote.

Bulgaria is at the top of the ranking of EU member states in terms of the number of cases in the so-called "enhanced procedure" (clusters of cases posing structural and systemic problems) at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The country is in sixth place after Russia (16%), Ukraine (15%), Turkey (11%), Romania (10%) and Italy (7%).

The Bulgarian MEP Elena Yoncheva was unable to win the post of Vice-President of the European Parliament.

Von der Leyen will start the tour in Skopje on October 26, continue on October 27 in Pristina and Tirana, then on October 28 stay in Belgrade and Sarajevo and finally on October 29 in Podgorica, as part of the Balkan tour, it has been announced on the website of European Commission.

The EC hopes that the EU Council will take the historic decision in December.

Bulgaria and Romania fulfill all the criteria for joining Schengen. And for 11 years now. This was the joint position of the European Commission and all parties in the European Parliament, expressed during a debate in Strasbourg.

In the Council of Europe, the discussion on the request of the so-called of Kosovo for admission without a conclusion on the precise date of putting it on the agenda of the Council of Ministers for re-discussion.
Aleksandra Djurovi, head of the Serbian mission to the Council of Europe, told Tanjug.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaks the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, July 5, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/JULIEN WARNAND

Türkiye presented a report on the visa difficulties experienced by Turkish citizens when entering European Union member countries to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Schengen visa refusals to Turkish citizens rose from 4 percent in 2014 to 12.7 percent in 2020, according to the report.

During a joint meeting on Monday in Pristina between the governments of Kosovo and Albania, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that he will personally submit a report to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg being prepared in Albania's parliament querying the Dick Marty report and what he alleged was its Russian influence.