European Union

Visiting European Commission Vice-President for the Euro and Social dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis said on Wednesday, at the Victoria Palace of Government, that he laid out to Premier Victor Ponta a series of concerns over the Government's plans to amend the Tax Code and substantially cut the Value Added Tax.

Photo credit: (c) Stefan MICSIK / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

EU reacts to Albanian PM's statement

BRUSSELS -- The EU has reacted to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's statement about "unification of Kosovo and Albania."

BRUSSELS - Statements of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Kosovo Foreign Minister Hasim Taci on unification are unacceptable provocations and are not in line with the policy of cooperation in the region, Spokesperson of the European Commission Maja Kocijancic stated.

Technical teams resumed their efforts in Athens on Tuesday, ahead of the Euro Working Group discussion set to begin at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and continue on Thursday. The negotiations at the meeting are based on a revised set of reforms that Greece sent to its international creditors last week.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz has again warned Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras not to sidestep the European Union's policy on sanctions toward Russia, comments aired a day before the latter travels to Moscow for an official visit.

The chief executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA) Jorge Domecq will arrive on an official visit to Bulgaria on Wednesday.

The schedule of his visit foresees meetings with Bulgaria's Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev and Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski.

The Athens Stock Exchange is struggling to keep up.

Even though the market is at 770 units and holding, the small turnover of 17.6 million euros shows that the market is moving aimlessly.

The only positive point is that the Stock Market holds up to current price levels, even though constant talks of a Grexit may pressure it towards a downwards trend.

BELGRADE - The government's EU Integration Office joined a memorandum of understanding that had been signed by the National Library of Serbia (NBS), Ministry of Culture, EU Delegation to Serbia, Acting Director of the Office Ksenija Milenkovic said on Tuesday.

European Union regulators are scrutinizing four EU countries' treatment of banks' deferred tax assets to see if these constitute state aid, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

The EU executive said it contacted authorities in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece following requests from some lawmakers in the European Parliament and other stakeholders on state guarantees.

By Katerina Sokou

Two clear messages emerged from the meeting between Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde in the early hours of Monday, Greek time: Greece will pay its dues to the Fund on time and will try to accelerate negotiations to reach a conclusion sooner.