Estonia

At 163.6% of GDP, debt in Greece rose to 163.6% of GDP in the second quarter of 2024, from 165.4% in the first quarter and 172.5% in the second quarter of 2023. In the eurozone, debt reached 88.1%, according to Eurostat data.

In 2023, Bulgaria maintained one of the lowest government debt-to-GDP ratios in the EU at 22.9%, as overall government deficits in the euro area and EU slightly increased. Government deficits rose to 3.6% of GDP in the euro area and 3.5% in the EU, while government debt levels fell across the region.

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Greece has declined a request from the Baltic nations - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - to participate in air patrols over their airspace, citing its current obligations in the Balkans.

The Baltic countries, which do not have fighters of their own, had asked Greece to deploy F-16 jets to help safeguard their skies as part of a NATO air-policing mission.

Greece's September reading of the European Union-harmonized consumer price index was eventually even higher than projected on October 1 and further from the eurozone average, according to figures Eurostat released on Thursday.

Bulgaria remains the EU's poorest country, with a minimum wage that feels out of reach compared to central European standards, according to Dariknews.bg. While a minimum wage above 1,500 euros may seem unrealistic for many Bulgarians, in the heart of Europe, these figures are quite common.

Nearly half of Bulgaria's pensioners are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, as highlighted in the European Commission's pension adequacy report. Data for 2022 reveals that 45.5% of individuals aged 65 and older in the country face this concerning situation.

The European Commission has issued an official warning to Bulgaria, along with two other member states, regarding the proper transposition of EU laws aimed at combating racism and xenophobia.

In 2023, the average age at which young people in the European Union left their parents' home was 26.3 years, slightly lower than the 26.4 years recorded the previous year, according to Eurostat.

NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland will seek European Union funding to build a network of bunkers, barriers, distribution lines and military warehouses along their borders with Russia and Belarus, Estonia's officials have said.