Foreign Affairs Council

The intense consultations between European Union member-states on the bloc's response to Turkish aggression in recent months are expected to continue until the 11th hour before the start of Thursday's crucial leaders summit. 

European Council President Charles Michel on Thursday expressed the EU's solidarity with Greece and Cyprus during a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kathimerini has learned.

Hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Greece had attacked the seismic survey vessel Oruc Reis, the Greek Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will inform his European counterparts about "real events" and "operational incidents" of recent days in the Eastern Mediterranean on Friday.

Turkey's foreign minister held phone conversations with his Hungarian, Lithuanian and Bulgarian counterparts on Aug. 13, according to a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto discussed recent matters related to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey's illegal activities in the Eastern Mediterranean were at the center of a telephone call Wednesday between Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides ahead of Friday's extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council meeting.

No more details were immediately available about the call.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called an extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council meeting Friday afternoon.
"We will discuss urgent issues and address the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Belarus Presidential elections, as well as developments in Lebanon," he said in a tweet Wednesday.

As Turkey pushes to expand its influence in the Eastern Mediterranean, Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, has urged Ankara to respect the sovereignty of Greece and Cyprus.

Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, on Tuesday urged Turkey to respect the sovereignty of Greece and Cyprus.
Asked about Turkish plans to begin hydrocarbon exploration near Greek islands, Borrell said said the EU was monitoring developments while being "in close contact" with Athens and Nicosia.

Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu had a phone conversation on Wednesday with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto, context in which an agreement was reached with the Government in Budapest to unblock the situation of cross-border workers who commute daily from one side and the other of the Romanian-Hungarian border.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu attended, through a videoconference system, on Monday, the informal meeting of foreign ministers from the European Union member states, which had as main topic on the agenda the COVID-19 pandemic, informs a press release of the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) sent to AGERPRES.