Heiko Maas

Bucharest, Dec 14 /Agerpres/ - The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, participated on Monday in the informal EU Ministerial Meeting with Latin American states and Caribbean (LAC), organized by the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in videoconference system, on which occasion he addressed the topic of the immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic, referring to t

European foreign ministers will discuss measures against Turkey at their meeting on Monday as there has been no de-escalation in the conflict in the eastern Mediterranean in the past months, Germany's foreign minister said on Monday.

Greece will insist in this week's European Council on a European Union embargo on selling arms to Turkey. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is also expected to tell his counterparts that the arms they sell to Turkey could be used against EU member-states.

Berlin – Foreign Minister Anže Logar addressed participants of the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum on Tuesday to highlight the priorities of Slovenia’s EU presidency in the second half of next year and stress the importance of solidarity among EU member states, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Turkish and German foreign ministers spoke on the telephone on June 15, according to diplomatic sources.

In the conversation, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Heiko Maas discussed the post-coronavirus normalization process, tourism, the potential removal of travel warnings for Turkey, and Turkish-EU relations when Germany assumes the presidency of the EU Council.

Germany and Turkey are in talks to evaluate if Ankara could be granted an exemption from Berlin's travel warning issued for all countries outside the EU, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on June 11.

Germany's "travel warning" for non-EU countries should not be interpreted as a "travel ban" for citizens who want to travel to Turkey or other countries, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on June 10. 

Reuters was told that the cabinet is expected to adopt that decision tomorrow.
Germany is ready to lift the travel ban for the member states of the European Union and Great Britain, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland from June 15, unless there is a ban on entering those countries and extensive restrictive measures.

Germany is in talks with Ankara over measures that could make it possible for German tourists to travel to Turkey for summer holidays, a senior government official said on June 4. 

Greek tourism officials are cautiously optimistic about the possibility of salvaging part of this year's tourist season after the official announcement of the German government on Wednesday to lift a travel directive issued in March.