France

Large food chains and vegetable exchanges in Bulgaria sell German and French potatoes as Bulgarian production and thus mislead their customers, National Potato Growers Association alerted. They have submitted complaints to the National Revenue Agency, Consumer Protection Commission and the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency with a request for inspection.

According to the data of the site for monitoring the pandemic "Worldometers", 2.000.223 people have died in the world so far as a result of COVID-19 infection. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, 93.443.135 people have been infected with the virus, and 66.682.010 have recovered.

Germany's total coronavirus cases topped two million on Jan. 15, as Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed for a "significant" tightening of restrictions to slow the infection rate.

Brussels – The European Commission has unveiled a proposal on allocating financial aid from the EU fund to offset the impact of Brexit. EUR 3.2 million has been set aside for Slovenia out of a total of EUR 4.2 billion expected to be disbursed in 2021.

Greek lawmakers approved the purchase of 18 Dassault-made Rafale jets from France for 2.5 billion euros ($3.04 billion) on Thursday, in a deal due to be signed by the Greek and French defence ministers later this month.

A 2.5-billion-euro deal for the purchase of 18 Dassault-made Rafale fighter jets from France was ratified by Greece's Parliament on Thursday evening.

The deal passed with an overwhelming majority, securing the support of opposition lawmakers from SYRIZA, Movement for Change and Greek Solution. The Greek Communist Party (KKE) and MeRA25 voted it down.

Greece ranks fourth among the most popular destinations for Europeans planning their holidays, according to a report commissioned by the European Union that has not yet been published in its entirety.

The survey shows Greece has climbed one place in the top 10, leapfrogging over Germany among the preferred destinations for Europeans for 2021.

Turkish citizen Safiya Kocaağa was honored by French authorities on Jan. 13 with the National Order of Merit for her efforts at a hospital during the early stages of the spread of the novel coronavirus in France. 

Greek industrial production recorded the second largest percentage increase among European Union member-states in November 2020, Eurostat said in a report on Wednesday.

The EU executive's statistics agency said industrial production in Greece grew 6.3% in November from October and rose by 8.8% in comparison with November 2019. 

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde pushed back on Wednesday against economic pessimism, arguing that a rebound will come as pandemic uncertainty declines and that Europe possesses all the tools needed to overcome the crisis.