Netherlands

Nine years ago, eight friends from the Netherlands arrived in Turkey and hired motorcycles to explore the country. Since then, they have fallen in love with Turkey.

EU Ministers for EU Affairs had to give green light today in Luxembourg to start the negotiation process with the two Balkan countries. However, Paris was strongly opposed.

Other countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark have demanded the separation of the two countries and the opening of negotiations with northern Macedonia only.

European Union governments agreed on Monday to limit arms exports to Turkey over its offensive in northern Syria, stopping short of a bloc-wide embargo on a NATO ally.

,,I support the accession of Northern Macedonia and Albania to the European Union.'' This was stated by President Rosen Plevneliev. He opposed the actions of French President Emmanuel Macron, who is trying to block the start of talks on membership of both countries in the Union.

The Council of the European Union today agreed to the appointment of Laura Codruta Kovesi to be the first European chief prosecutor. The appointment must now also be confirmed by the European Parliament, according to a press statement released on Monday by the Council of the EU.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday are expected to deplore the Turkish offensive in Syria and vow to coordinate on imposing an arms embargo, Bloomberg has reported, though a decision is on Turkey is not expected until later this week.

Romania has just won the title of a European champion in the European Cyber Security Challenge 2019 competition, which took place over October 9-11, at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest. The distinctions were granted to the Romanian team and the other countries at the Award Gala held on Friday evening at the National Military Centre in the Capital City.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) on Friday submitted to the Standing Electoral Authority (AEP) an additional list of 270 polling stations abroad that add to 444 already approved places. MAE has so far put forth 714 polling stations that will be organised abroad for the presidential election, according to a MAE press statement.

Twelve European countries, including Bulgaria, join forces in a new project financed by the EU to exchange ideas aimed at improving road safety. There are significant differences of the road safety indicators in the EU member states, BNR reported.

The Bulgarian economy is ranked 49th in the global competitiveness ranking according to the World Economic Forum (CIF) ranking. In 2019, Bulgaria climbs two positions in the prestigious ranking, comprising 141 countries worldwide. The country's score is 64.9 points.