Portugal

National Defence Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca will be paying an official visit to Portugal, Monday through Tuesday, at the invitation of his counterpart Joao Gomes Cravinho.

Romania's women's table tennis team qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Friday, after defeating India, 3-2, in the decisive match of the 2020 ITTF World Team Qualification Tournament in Gondomar (Portugal). The victory point was brought by Daniela Monteiro Dodean, who defeated Manika Batra, the best Indian player, 3-1 (11-8, 11-4, 3-11, 11-2).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised the Greek government's reform drive while defending Berlin's austerity prescription during the years of economic crisis.

According to him, President of the European Council Charles Michel announced the gathering of Western Balkans leaders in February.
"I expect Michel to soon organize some kind of rally in February that will bring together all the leaders in the Western Balkans, so that we can continue dialogue", Vucic told Television Pink.

Eight European Union member states have decided to set up a naval surveillance mission in the Strait of Hormuz, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on Jan. 20 after a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.

A European-led naval mission in the Straits of Hormuz - a vital shipping route for world transport that has been impacted by military tensions in the Middle East - has won more political support from countries, said the French government on Monday.

Athens is among the 20 nominees for Europe's best destination in 2020, being voted on by users of the website European Best Destinations in association with the continent's largest travel agencies.

The acquisition of FPS by Italian group doValue will serve as a springboard for the latter's expansion in the wider Southeastern Europe region according to its CEO Andrea Mangoni.

In an interview with Kathimerini, Mangoni says that the Italian group's aim is to become the leading servicer of nonperforming exposures in Greece ahead of the emergence of the secondary NPE market.

Greek banks had the highest ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) among banks supervised by the European Central Bank in the third quarter, followed by those of Cyprus, Portugal and Italy, the ECB said on Wednesday.

António Zambujo, a songwriter, guitarist and singer from Portugal's Beja, a city in the Alentejo region decorated by a spot on UNESCO's representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, will take the Istanbul stage on Jan. 24 as part of a world tour to promote his latest album, "Do Avesso" (Of the Flip Side).