Netherlands

The Cypriot minister of finance, Makis Keravnos, expressed his satisfaction with the conclusion of negotiations on a double taxation avoidance agreement with the Netherlands in a meeting Thursday with the Dutch ambassador in Nicosia, Elke Merks-Schaapveld, according to a press release by the ministry.

The Netherlands is not against Bulgaria's entry into Schengen, but expects more progress from the country on the terms of accession. This was stated by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, to Bulgaria's National Television in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, where the Council of Europe summit was opened yesterday.

Will you support Bulgaria for Schengen?

The vast majority of Turkish voters in Bulgaria preferred the opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to the current president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential elections in Turkey, according to the results of the vote abroad, announced by the Turkish publication "Duvar" and quoted by BTA.

There has been a 292% increase in the number of people trying to reach European shores from North Africa via routes leading to Italy. The data is only for the period between January and April 2023, compared to the same period in 2022. According to official figures, this is about 42,200 people. The information is from the Border Agency of the EU Frontex, BGNES reported.

Climate change is pushing more people to move to the European Union than conflict is, and the EU border agency Frontex has warned that this could result in record numbers of individuals illegally entering the bloc.

Twelve European countries objected in a letter to the European Commission against the concessions it made to Bulgaria and four other EU members for the import of Ukrainian food.

Iran executed on Saturday Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab for "terrorism", the judiciary said, in the Islamic republic's latest use of the death penalty against dual nationals.

Chaab had been held in Iran since October 2020 after he vanished during a visit to Turkey before going on trial in Tehran, which does not recognise dual nationality.

The number of expatriate votes cast in Türkiye's upcoming elections has reached nearly 1.2 million, prompting the government to set up additional ballot boxes abroad.

More than 3.4 million Turkish citizens living abroad are eligible to vote for the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14 at home, around 277,000 of whom are first-time voters.

Besides such abuses, experts also say the procedure could be illegal. "There are some doubts over the legality of what we are seeing happening between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of European law," Italian jurist and migration expert Gianfranco Schiavone told BIRN.

Not allowed to seek asylum

Nine EU countries, including Slovenia, have initiated a procedure to change the EU decision-making system, proposing that decisions on the EU foreign and security policies are reached by a qualified majority and no longer by consensus, the German Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.