European Union

Bulgaria's parliamentary committee on budget and finance will discuss Thursday a proposed increase in the excise duty on cigarettes.

The measure is envisaged in a set of amendments to the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

As of 2016, the excise duty on cigarettes will start increasing, pushing up cigarette prices.

European Council President Donald Tusk pointed to the Priority Actions for the migrant crisis proposed by the European Commission following the informal meeting of EU leaders.

He asked EU institutions and governments to work speedily on the following issues:

In a surprising twist, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday said Bucharest could now manage the number of refugees the EU is planning to relocate to the Balkan country, although he is still against mandatory quotas imposed by the Commission.

A petition against the recent EU-led agreement with Serbia has attracted more than 63,000 signatures during only five days, the organisers said on Wednesday.

The petition was launched on September 18 and the organisers claim the number of the people signing it is increasing every day.

After EU heads meet on Wednesday, Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn is heading to Serbia on Friday to discuss the refugee crisis, after Serbia was marked a "hotspot" for refugees beside Italy, Greece and Turkey.

The European Union should urgently work with its partners towards stabilizing the countries of origin and helping transit countries in order to resolve the current migration crisis, Bulgaria said on Wednesday.

The European Commission has warned 19 EU member-states against failure to implement rules on handling waves of asylum seekers now flooding Europe.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans issued the warning as EU leaders gathered in Brussels for an emergency summit on the refugee/migrant crisis on Wednesday.

Bulgaria's government on Wednesday approved a draft agreement on cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to update their forms of interaction in view of increased migration flows into Europe in recent years.

Turkish airstrikes have targeted and destroyed bases belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the Turkish General Staff said on its website on Sept. 23.

Fighter jets hit bunkers and weapons caches in the Hakurk region belonging to the PKK on Sept. 22, according to the statement.

The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled  a set of priority actions to be taken within the next six months to tackle the current refugee crisis.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will present the measures to the informal summit of EU leaders tonight in Brussels.