International organizations

The team of 30 medical personnel from Albania will volunteer in the health institutions in the Italian town of Bergamo. 

"Thanks to the Albanian government for this act of solidarity and affection," Italian embassy in Tirana said in a tweet.

Albania confirmed 11 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours - the smallest increase in diagnoses since March 21.

For anyone that still needed to be convinced, the evacuation on Friday by the Turkish authorities of hundreds of migrants who had for weeks waited at the border crossing with Greece aiming to force their way into Europe lifted any remaining doubts about what was at stake. 

Greece hopes EU countries will agree on a common debt instrument to raise funds to support economies in combating the new coronavirus, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said in a press briefing Thursday.

"Obviously, the state of the real economy has deteriorated and continues to deteriorate. This is why we are reevaluating the situation on a daily basis," he said.

Athens sees no letup in Ankara's strategy of fueling tension on land and sea, with its forces regularly firing tear gas and stun grenades over the Evros land border while on Monday its fighter jets again violated Greek airspace over the northeastern coast of the island of Chios in the eastern Aegean.

European Union finance ministers formally endorsed on Monday the suspension of EU limits on governments borrowing to give the 27 EU countries a free hand in fighting the disastrous effects of the coronavirus epidemic on the economy.

With a few exceptions that were to be fine-tuned on Sunday, hotels across Greece are shutting their doors as of Monday morning, putting Greek tourism on ice even though it is the main source of income in many parts of the country, such as in Nafplio in the Peloponnese.

US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt on Friday spoke with Greece's new President Katerina Sakellaropoulou by video link, with the former expressing his solidarity with Greece and backing its right to protect its northern border with Turkey in Evros.

The European Union Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) is currently working on guidelines to uniformly implement the recommendations of the European Commission regarding the temporarily restriction of non-essential trips to the European Union of the third-country's citizens, the Strategic Communication Group (GCS) informed.

European Union leaders will hold another video conference on March 26 to discuss the impact of coronavirus, a top official said on Thursday, the same day the European Parliament plans to increase EU aid to the economy.

EU ambassadors are to make a decision on Thursday on a draft document agreeing the start of accession talks for Albania and North Macedonia.

If they approve the draft, the decision is expected to be confirmed later this month by EU foreign ministers and prime ministers, who are set to convene, probably via video conferences, on March 24 and 26 respectively.