Confederations

The Bulgarian cabinet has assigned a "national significance" status to a fence on the border with Turkey at its meeting on Wednesday, according to the agenda sent to the media.

The move is aimed at speeding up some administrative procedures.

Over 300 European intellectuals and academics from across the European Union have signed an appeal in view of the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.

The European Commission has neither confirmed nor denied information from Bulgarian officials about a pending freeze of payments under a science and education program.

The elections that will be held in three European countries, France, Germany, and Holland will determine Europe's future, Turkey's EU Minister Ömer Çelik said, emphasizing the rising influence of right-wing politics in Europe.

New rules allowing European Union citizens with subscriptions for online music, games, movies and TV shows to access that content while staying temporarily in another EU country were informally agreed by the European Parliament and European Council negotiators on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS - Croatia and Bulgaria on Tuesday gave the official green light for the opening of Chapter 26 (education and culture) in Serbia's EU accession talks.

The Croatian and Bulgarian members of the Council of the EU working party on enlargement and candidate countries officially backed the opening of the chapter, enabling the necessary consensus on the matter.

The ambassadors of EU member states confirmed on Thursday all conditions have been met for the opening of Chapter 26 in Serbia's EU accession talks.

It now remains to be seen when the next intergovernmental conference on opening one, or perhaps more new chapters, is to be held, Tanjug reported on Thursday.

As many as 1410 irregular migrants were been expelled over the course of 2016, a sharp increase compared to the previous year, the Interior Ministry has said.

Most of those sent back were nationals of Iraq (494), Afghanistan (417), and Iran (113), followed by those from Syria (85) and Turkey (68).

The figure is 77% bigger than 2015, when 797 people were expelled.

SARAJEVO - In 2017, prospects of improvement in the relations among Russia, the EU and the US will be of the greatest significance for Serbia globally, while the biggest challenge at national level will be holding the presidential elections in a procedure that will not overly upset the political scene, says Regional Cooperation Council Secretary-General Goran Svilanovic.

Serbia could this year present negotiating positions for 13 new chapters in the EU accession talks, says EU Delegation head Michael Davenport.

They primarily relate to the economy, finances, corporate law and the customs union, he said on Friday.