Luxembourg

Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova assured on Thursday that Bulgaria was functioning as a member of the Schengen Area and everyone in Europe was of the opinion that Bulgaria has fulfilled the technical requirements for accession to the borderless area.

In 2013, a majority (51.2%) of women in the European Union (EU) gave birth to their first child when aged in their 20s, while 40.6% became mothers in their 30s. In addition, more than 127,000 births of first children in the EU in 2013 were to women aged less than 20 (teenage mothers) and around 65,500 to women aged 40 and over.

By Marcus Bensasson

Greece?s economy went back into recession in the first quarter as a standoff with its international creditors renewed doubts about its place in the euro area.

The Turkish Air Force has temporarily grounded its two Airbus A400Ms after the crash of a plane of the same type in Spain, daily Hürriyet learned May 10. 

At least four people were killed May 9 when an A400M crashed near Seville airport in southern Spain during a test flight, the first fatal incident involving the new transport craft.

An Airbus A400M military plane crashed into a field 1.6 kilometers north of San Pablo airport in Seville in southern Spain on May 9 while apparently on a test flight, officials said.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said between eight and 10 people were on board, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported. The prime minister's office could not confirm the comments.

Luxembourg Ambassador to Ankara Arlette Conzemius has defended the Luxembourg parliament?s move to recognize the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as genocide by underlining the existence of the democratic system in her country. 

Turkey has strongly condemned Luxembourg for recognizing the mass killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide and has pulled back its ambassador in protest against the European country. 

FM: Opening of some chapter expected this year

LUXEMBOURG -- Serbia expects to open some chapter by the end of the year, as part of the efforts to achieve its main objective - EU membership, said Ivica Dacic,

The Serbian foreign minister made the comments while visiting Luxembourg on Wednesday.

Greece's alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas has denied a report in Germany's Bild newspaper that identified him as the government official alleged to have recently transferred 80,000 euros to a bank in Luxembourg.

Reports, which however did not reveal the name of the minister, first emerged in a Thessaloniki-based newspaper earlier in the week.

Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas, speaking with private MEGA TV on Wednesday, dismissed charges against him regarding a supposed 80,000-euro transaction taking money out of Greece and putting it into a Luxembourg account. He said that he has not siphoned any money out of the country since the snap elections saw the victory of the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) on January 25.