European integration

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet on Tuesday with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, German deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann announced on Friday. 

According to Hoffmann, the agenda of the meeting includes bilateral and European policy issues and issues related to security policy. The talks will be followed by a joint press conference. 

French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking after a European Union summit in Brussels, said several European countries are looking to build up a "humanitarian coalition" regarding Gaza and talks were being held with Cyprus and Greece over this.

"Cyprus could serve as a base for humanitarian operations," Macron said on Friday.

[Reuters]

TIRANA - Representatives of Western Balkan countries, including Serbian PM Ana Brnabic, signed in Tirana on Tuesday an agreement on mutual recognition of professional qualifications of nurses, veterinary doctors, pharmacists and midwives.

BRUSSELS - Serbian Minister of Internal and External Trade Tomislav Momirovic met with EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi in Brussels on Thursday to discuss several important topics, including Pristina's ban on trade in goods from central Serbia.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will attend a European Political Community summit in Granada on Thursday, the presidential press office announced in a statement.

Forty-seven heads of state and government as well as the presidents of the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament have been invited to the event.

A special clause in the countries' accession treaties to the European Union can ensure that they cannot block other applicants immediately after entry.

This was stated by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the Strategic Forum in Bled, which gathered heads of state and government from the Western Balkans and other countries, including Bulgaria and Greece.

Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis had a reportedly warm telephone conversation on Friday with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

Gerapetritis stressed that Athens encourages all international initiatives aimed at restoring Ukraine's sovereignty and preventing humanitarian crises.

Today, the European Parliament will vote on a resolution for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. Against this background, the Romanian MEP from the European People's Party, Eugene Tomac, requested that the European Parliament file a case against the European Council before the Court of Justice of the EU for not allowing Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen.

An hour before GERB-SDS returned a completed mandate to the president in the National Assembly, candidates for prime minister of GERB-SDS Mariya Gabriel and "We Continuing the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" Nikolay Denkov gave a briefing, at which it became clear that the first mandate will not be fulfilled, as the two political forces have reached an agreement on a cabinet.

BELGRADE - Serbia is seeing steady growth of external goods and services trade, which reached 83 bln euros in 2022, Serbian Minister of Internal and External Trade Tomislav Momirovic said on Monday, adding that Serbian businesses were able to export duty-free to the CEFTA, EFTA, Russian, Eurasian Union and Turkish markets thanks to FTAs.