France

The EU needs to move "as soon as possible" from a wait-and-see approach to a problem-solving strategy in dealing with enlargement and the Western Balkans, said Slovenian Foreign Minister Anže Logar in an interview about the priorities for his country's upcoming EU Council presidency.

Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi said on June 21 he will not allow nuclear negotiations for the sake of negotiations, in his first news conference since winning election last week.

The party of France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen performed weaker than expected in the first round of regional elections on June 20, in a vote marked by record levels of abstention.

Early projections showed the center-right Republicans party on course to top June 20's vote, while Le Pen's National Rally undershot predictions based on voter surveys conducted last week.

This was shown by the exit polls after the elections, marked by a record low turnout, published on Sunday night.

Leipzig – Slovenia’s Benjamin Savšek placed third at the second race of the ICF Canoe-Kayak Slalom World Cup in Germany’s Markkleeberg, being outperformed only by French Denis Gargaud Chanut and German Sideris Tasiadis. The other Slovenian athlete in the finals, Luka Božič, finished 10th.

Ljubljana – Expo 2020, to be held in Dubai from October 2021 to March 2022, will be a record-breaking world exhibition. Slovenia and Slovenian companies will have an opportunity for excellent promotion and a long-term positioning in the Middle East and beyond, the country’s Expo commissioner general Matic Volk says.

Air passenger transport decreased by 76.2% in the first quarter of 2021, from 3,851,100 passengers to 916,500, due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, according to data centralized by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

Turkey has huge investment and earning potential in the tourism sector, said the country's president on June 19. 

France savored a fresh sense of freedom on June 17 as people were allowed to remove face masks when outside for the first time since last autumn and  Disneyland Paris welcomed visitors after an eight-month COVID hiatus.

Turkey wants to end its Euro 2020 campaign on a high note when it plays Switzerland in a Group A game in Baku on June 20.

 Turkey has yet to score a goal in the tournament with two losses in two games, 3-0 to Italy and 2-0 to Wales, and has lost its chances of finishing the group in the top two to advance.