EU Council

Hungary and Poland voted against the EU's plan to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15% compared to the five-year average for the period from 1 August 2022 to 31 March 2023.

According to EU information, the mentioned countries are the only ones opposed to the initiative.

With 68 votes "in favor" and none "against" and in the absence of MPs from the main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE and the small "Levitsa" formation, the parliament adopted draft conclusions, with which the cabinet is given direction on what it can and cannot negotiates in the European integration process.

The European Union today put a tighter focus on energy during the Czech presidency of the EU Council, given Russia's war in Ukraine. "We must prepare for a further disruption of gas supplies, even a complete shutdown of supplies from Russia," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament.

In other Czech news, Prague is set to take over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU from France on Friday. This would be the second time Czechia has served as the president of the EU Council since it joined the bloc in 2004. It had been hoping for a smoother ride this time, unlike in 2009 when the government collapsed during its stint, causing its presidency to be judged a disaster.

The EU Council has agreed on a binding target of 40 percent of energy from renewable sources in the overall energy mix by 2030.

This happened at a meeting of energy ministers from member states in Luxembourg.

On Thursday night, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Bulgarian politicians "from across the political spectrum" to support a compromise proposed by France that would allow the lifting of Bulgaria's veto over the start of membership talks with North Macedonia.

The leader of the Macedonian opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, said that if Bulgaria's demands are included in the EU's negotiating framework for membership, Skopje would be better off refusing to apply to the Union.

Bulgaria meets three of the four economic convergence criteria needed to join the Eurozone.

This is stated in a report released yesterday by the European Commission.

The criteria that our country fulfills are for stable and sustainable public finances, stability of exchange rates and long-term interest rates.

"Bulgaria should close its ports and demand compensation from Gazprom for the suspended Russian gas" - this was called for by the fifth Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko in an interview with bTV.

The EU Council today adopted the fifth package of sanctions against Russia - the most severe so far. They were imposed because of the war against Ukraine.

For the first time, a ban has been imposed on the import of coal from Russia, as well as on the entry of Russian-flagged ships into EU ports. The ban also affects Russia's import of vodka from the EU.