European Council

With Turkey's transgressions in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean in full swing, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday urged Ankara to abandon the rationale of constant provocations with Greece. 

In addition, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will talk to France about anti-Russian measures, before she launches any action.

She added that the evidence that Russia had a role in poisoning Sergei Skripal was "on firm bases."

Ankara's Foreign Ministry on Friday said that Thursday's condemnation by European Union leaders of "Turkey's continued illegal actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea" was "unacceptable."

The EU-Turkey summit in Varna, scheduled for Monday, will be held after all. This is what the leaders of the union have decided at the meeting of the European Council, the BNR announced.

The European Union has recalled its ambassador from Moscow after leaders on the continent threw their weight behind Theresa May's stance over the Salisbury attack. Several EU member states were poised to announce expulsions of diplomats, in a bid to dismantle Vladimir Putin's spy network.

European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday unanimously condemned Turkey for its aggression toward Greece and Cyprus and called on Ankara to release two Greek soldiers who have been in Turkish custody for more than three weeks. 

AGERPRES special correspondent Florentina Peia reports: President Klaus Iohannis stated on Thursday that the stage of negotiations regarding Brexit "looks really good" for Romania.

''The upcoming meeting between the leaders of the EU and Turkey in Varna is necessary for the normalization of relations between the EU and Ankara.''

This is what Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov commented at a meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels, the press service of the Council of Ministers announced.

An international conference on "The Future of Work" will take place on 21-22 March in Sofia. It aims to encourage sharing views and knowledge on the challenges and opportunities that arise in the context of a highly digitalised and fast-paced world of work.

The European Council "strongly condemns Turkey's continued illegal actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea" and underlines its "full solidarity with Cyprus and Greece," according to a draft of conclusions for the European Union summit taking place in Brussels on Thursday.