EU Council

The EU Council's vote last December to admit Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania into the Schengen area for free travel should have been a triumphant moment for the bloc.

Ukraine is strengthening its forces on the northern border due to the arrival of fighters of the Wagner paramilitary formation in Belarus, and Ria Novosti reports that anti-tank trenches have been dug in the Chernihiv region on a stretch of more than 40 kilometers.

Two-thirds of the citizens in North Macedonia put Bulgaria at the top of a list that includes the biggest opponents of their country's European integration.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has underlined that Türkiye's continued process to join the European Union has an important effect on the Turkish economy and informed that there is a positive atmosphere in Brussels for the revitalization of the bilateral ties including on the modernization of the customs union and visa liberalization.

Türkiye has demanded the resumption of the full membership talks with the European Union to consider the accession of Sweden into NATO, a day before the critical alliance's leaders' summit in Vilnius.

At its last meeting in Strasbourg before the summer vacation, the European Parliament will vote, at the beginning of July, on a new call for the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen. This was decided today by the parliamentary committee on petitions, BTA reported.

MEPs have called on the Council of the EU to postpone Hungary's presidency of the Community, scheduled for the second half of 2024.

Bulgaria will have to comply with the Istanbul Convention, even if it has not ratified it, if it is approved by the EU Council, according to the European Commission.

The European Parliament is expected to approve its ratification at its plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

The supply of 155 mm projectiles to Ukraine should be part of the general conclusions for the country, which are expected to be proposed at the European Council starting tomorrow in Brussels.

This was reported by diplomatic sources.

The leaders of the EU member states will participate in the meeting.

The international community has collected slightly more than 6 billion euros for Türkiye and around 1 billion euros for Syria in a major donors' conference organized by the European Union to assist the victims of the Feb. 6 earthquakes and the reconstruction of 11 Turkish provinces.