Finland

Greek lawmakers approved their country's draft third bailout in a parliamentary vote Aug. 14 that relied on opposition party support and saw the government coalition suffer significant dissent.

Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb on Thursday said his country is ready to participate in the third Greek bailout deal.

“We have come a long way during the summer. The future of euro was at stake…. but now we’ve got a solution and will live with it,” Stubb said after the Finnish parliament’s grand committee in favor.

Another …marathon session of Greece’s Parliament is expected on Thursday, as debate began – in an urgent process – over a draft bill that is essentially the third bailout memorandum.

The European Commission has this month approved 23 multiannual national programmes under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF). The total funding for the agreed programmes is approximately €2.4 billion, for the period 2014-2020.

The new survey Eurobarometer by the European Commission, released on Wednesday, suggests that people in Serbia are the most sceptical about EU membership in the Balkans.

About 42 per cent of the people surveyed in Serbia believe that the country's membership of the EU would a good thing while 22 per cent consider it would be negative for the country.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has suggested his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin could go as far as he is allowed to, if he embarks on an offensive into Europe, including the Black Sea countries.

Turkey will compete in a relatively easy group in the qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, after it avoided being paired with the powerhouses of European football.

Eight projects of six EU Member States will be the first to receive funding under the so-called Juncker Plan.

In an opinion article in Bloomberg, economist Ashoka Mody argues that it is Germany that should leave the Eurozone and not Greece. Mody claims that countries with so divergent economies should not have entered into a common currency union in the first place.

Highlights from Euro leaders on Friday regarding Greece include Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who said he was “certain” there would be problems with Greece in the future, days after a euro zone bailout fund decided to open talks with Greece on a third bailout program.