European Council

The European Union has announced it will open two new chapters to the present volume of negotiation texts it has offered to Montenegro.

A European Council statement cited by EurActiv says taxation and external affairs are the two issues to be included in the talks upon the agreement of both Brussels and Podgorica, thus having 18 out of 35 chapters opened.

Greece "does not agree" with sanctions imposed on Russia

MOSCOW -- Greece "does not agree" with the sanctions of the West against Russia, as it considers them "a road to nowhere," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said.

In an interview for TASS ahead of his visit to Moscow, he noted there was a chance to raise the level of trade between the two countries "to a higher level."

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has not received an invitation to participate in the celebrations in Moscow, which will commemorate the 70thanniversary of Victory Day on May 9.

It is expected that Heads of State or Government and ministers from all over the world will gather in Moscow to witness the military parade of the Russian army, daily Trud reports.

BRUSSELS - Serbia on Tuesday finished the screening of the last of the 35 chapters in its EU accession talks, completing a significant section of its European path, Serbia's chief EU negotiator Tanja Miscevic told reporters.

Much work lies ahead for us now to prepare the opening of the first chapters, Miscevic said after the screening for Chapter 33 (budget and finances) ended.

BRUSSELS - The screening for the last of the 35 chapters of the accession talks between Serbia and EU ends in Brussels on Tuesday, marking the end of an important stage of Serbia's EU integration.

Head of the Serbian team for the talks Tanja Miscevic and director of the office for EU integration Ksenija Milenkovic visited Brussels on Tuesday for that reason.

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a letter that Athens will not be able to service its debt without financial help from the EU, the Greek government revealed on March 23.
      
Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis confirmed a report in the Financial Times which said that Tsipras had written to Merkel.
      

Greek officials met on Friday to begin the process of drafting a list of reforms that could help unlock further bailout funding for Greece after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras?s Thursday night meeting in Brussels resulted in key European Union officials demanding swift action from the coalition.

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov stated Friday that the statements circulated across Greek media that a tax will be imposed to Bulgarians visiting Greece for tourism are completely false.

He further announced at a news conference held in Brussels after a session of the European Council that the topic has never been discussed.

The latest developments in the accession talks of Montenegro with the European Union were analysed on Thursday by State Secretary for European Affairs with Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) George Ciamba and Montenegro's chief-negotiator for EU Aleksandar Pejovic at a meeting on Thursday in Bucharest.

Photo credit (c): ANGELO BREZOIANU / AGERPRES FILES

Text of a statement by the presidents of the European Council, the European Commission and the Euro Group on Greece after a meeting with the Greek prime minister, German chancellor and French president in Brussels on Friday: