Confederations

Interior Minister Mladen Marinov participated in the informal meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Helsinki, the press center of the Ministry of Interior announced.

While holding the presidency of the EU Council, Romanian officials proved Romania's ability to contribute to the added value of the European Union, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said in Strasbourg on Tuesday at a plenary session of the European Parliament.

Romania managed during the EU Council Presidency to be a "very good" mediator, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila told the European Parliament plenary meeting on Tuesday, adding that Romania would have wanted to achieve more things, but it is not easy to create consensus among 28 member states where priorities differ.

The European Union will put on hold high-level talks with Ankara and negotiations on an air transport agreement, as well as freeze funding for Turkey next year, over "illegal" drilling for gas and oil off Cyprus, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters.

There will be no backtracking on environmental standards in the EU integration process of Western Balkan countries, Johannes Hahn, outgoing Enlargement Commissioner, warned on Thursday, speaking to a panel about the environment held during the West Balkans Summit in Poznan.

EU leaders on July 2 struck a hard-fought summit deal to put women in two of the bloc's most important jobs for the first time.    

The question of the Western Balkans is still high up on the agenda of the EU, said Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva during the discussion of the priorities of the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU.

According to a study conducted by the European Commission's Joint Research Center on dual food quality in 19 EU member states, 9% of the products differed in composition, although their packaging was identical, the BNR reported.

Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) is a measure of material welfare of households. Based on first preliminary estimates for 2018, AIC per capita expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) varied from 56% to 132% of the European Union (EU) average across the Member States.

European Union leaders appear set to push back the start of membership talks with Albania and North Macedonia despite warnings that further delays could undermine pro-democratic reform efforts and stability in the volatile Balkans region.