Member states of the United Nations

By Vasilis Kanellis

No one can pretend that they did not know, as there were already 'Turkaegean' ads last year.

Apologies, resignations, and even sackings, when necessary, should be par for the course in politics.

After securing gains at NATO summit, Erdogan resumes hostile rhetoric against Greece

The real intention of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration is to establish their complete rule on the island, Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar has said.

"Obviously, the war in Ukraine has sunk into the tracks and will be a long event. The question is what can be done to prevent such tensions from recurring."

This was said to BNR by Ivailo Kalfin, former Deputy Prime Minister, former Foreign and Social Minister and former MEP. He is currently the Executive Director of Eurofound.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

The Council of the EU has approved Ukraine and Moldova receiving candidate status

Yesterday, the Council of the European Union approved Ukraine and Moldova receiving candidate status.

This was announced on Twitter by the President of the Council Charles Michel.

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.