Angela Merkel

Greece is optimistic about reaching a deal on economic reforms with its euro zone peers early next week, unblocking urgently needed funding, its economy minister said on Thursday.

France's BEA (Bureau of Investigations and Analyses) said it has successfully extracted recordings from the cockpit voice recorder of the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday.

BEA Director Remi Jouty said at a news conference at its headquarters outside Paris on Wednesday it could take days to get "usable" information from the voice recordings.

The EU has pledged the Western Balkans one billion euro in investment in infrastructure and transport projects.

The conference held in Pristina marked the first time that a top Serbian official had attended a summit in Kosovo since the conflict in the country ended in the late 1990s. 

According to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, no Bulgarian citizens were featured on the list of passengers, who were on board of the Germanwings plane, which crashed on Tuesday.

At present the same information is being confirmed by the German Foreign Ministry, the press service of Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry informs.

A regional ministerial conference opened in Kosovo on Wednesday, bringing together the Foreign and Infrastructure ministers of Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Vucic offers condolences to Merkel and Rajoy

BELGRADE -- Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic expressed his condolences to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

His message came following a plane crash in the French Alps that killed nationals of the two countries on Tuesday.

French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy arrived near the site of the German airliner that crashed in the French Alps.
      
The three leaders, looking sombre and dressed in black, met rescue workers and police outside the crisis centre set up in the wake of Tuesday's disaster, in which 150 people were killed.

Hundreds of people are taking part in a rescue operation in the French Alps after a Germanwings airplane with 150 people on board went down near Barcelonette in Southern France while en route from Spain to Düsseldorf.

All 144 passengers and 6 crew are feared dead, and the EU Commission has declared three days of mourning over the incident.

"The United States offers condolences and stands ready to provide assistance in the investigation of Germanwings' Airbus A320 crash" said the US President.

Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos denied on Tuesday the government was planning to seize German assets as compensation for a Nazi atrocities during World War II.

?No Greek citizen would want the confiscation of a historic educational/cultural institute like the Goethe [Institute in Athens],? Paraskevopoulos said in a statement.