European Union

The European Commission (EC) announced on Monday a comprehensive package of measures, which will support European farmers by providing them with EUR 500 M.

This development came as an extraordinary Council of agricultural ministers in Brussels was accompanied by a large-scale protest of farmers, including Bulgarian producers, in Brussels.

European Union member Greek Cyprus said Sept. 7 that it would be willing to take in up to 300 migrants fleeing upheaval in the Middle East under new EU quotas, but would prefer them to be Orthodox Christians. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Sept.7 that the European Union should give financial support to Turkey and other non-member countries to help them deal with the stream of migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe. 

Serbia finds it unacceptable for the opening of the first chapters in EU accession negotiations to take place next year, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said.

He pointed out that the country has made progress by signing the Brussels agreement and therefore expects the first chapters to be opened in November or December.

According to German magazine Spiegel online, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that EU member-states unwilling to share the distribution of immigrants entering the continent would have to offer financial assistance for the refugee crisis.

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem made it clear, Friday that regardless of which party wins the September 20 elections in Greece, it will have to implement the agreement reached by the cash strapped country and its creditors. The Dutch Finance Minister added that there was no prospect of a hair-cut to the Greek public debt.

Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin has said that Serbia is at real risk from a "reverse wave of migrants" that could be sent back from EU countries.

Ivica Dacic, Serbia first deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, will take part in a two-day informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.

The gathering starts in Luxembourg on Friday and will have "the burning issue of migrations as one of the key topics of the plenary discussion," Tanjug said.

The 2015 edition of the Eurostat publication “The EU in the world” compares the European Union (EU) with the 15 non-EU G-20 countries across thirteen statistical fields using a range of European and international statistics.

The European Central Bank (ECB) plans to boost liquidity in the Greek economy and banking system, revealed ECB President Mario Draghi. The European central banker clarified that the institution was negative to a hair-cut on Greek depositors the form of a ‘bail-in’, in the event of a restructuring of a Greek bank.