Member states of NATO

On Thursday night, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Bulgarian politicians "from across the political spectrum" to support a compromise proposed by France that would allow the lifting of Bulgaria's veto over the start of membership talks with North Macedonia.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is disappointed that Bulgaria continues to block talks with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM).

At the EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels and at the meeting of European leaders after that, no concrete proposal is expected from Bulgaria to lift its veto on North Macedonia.

"The proposals of the French Presidency are the best so far, I'm not just talking about Bulgaria - they are the fairest. (...) Let it be clear: we really have progress for a change in the constitution of North Macedonia and the entry of Bulgarians into the document, which I have been insisting on for a long time. It is already accepted for this to happen".

The governments of Turkey and Greece are risking conflict in a growing row over the Aegean, fuelled by domestic political concerns.

It is the first case in which the court has addressed the issue of the penalization of a judge for criticizing PiS reforms. Zurek is one of the best-known Polish judges to be critical of the ruling party's politicization of the judiciary.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Sofia that he strongly supports an agreement to start EU accession talks between the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania.

"The citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia cannot be held hostage pending dates at any subsequent European Union summit. The withdrawal of Slavi Trifonov's party from the government in Bulgaria is an internal matter. We exchanged ideas with Bulgaria on how to lift the veto.

The State Department said on the occasion of the decision of Montenegro, Bulgaria and North Macedonia not to allow the overflight of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's plane on the way to Belgrade, that they, as sovereign states, "made sovereign decisions on airspace, reflecting Europe's determination to hold Russia "accountable" for the attack on Ukraine.

Data published by the Polish Ministry of Family and Social Policy at the beginning of June showed that just little over 185,000 of that total number were now formally employed in the country.