Orders, decorations, and medals

Margaritis Schinas, the current chief spokesperson for the European Commission, said he is honored to be nominated to represent Greece in the next college of commissioners, following a meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday.

The opposition People's Movement Party (PMP) will unveil its presidential candidate before August 10, the party's chairman, Eugen Tomac, said on Friday, adding that the party commissioned an opinion poll comprising him, Robert Turcescu, Theodor Paleologu, Mihail Neamtu and George Mioc.

Margaritis Schinas, who until now had served as chief spokesman of the European Commission under Jean-Claude Juncker, has been tapped by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to serve as Greece's next representative on the European Commission.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has accepted the resignation of Secretary-General Martin Selmayr, a spokesman for the institution said today.

The European Parliament on Tuesday elected Ursula von der Leyen as the next president of the European Commission — the first woman to hold the EU's top executive job, reported POLITICO. 

Two Russian "pranksters" framed Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia Zoran Zaev with an interview, introducing themselves as a former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

There is no other explanation as to why the Visegrad Four countries of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia joined with Italy to pave the way for a German federalist to become president of the European Commission despite their past calls for an end to Germany's domination. All five nations are governed by anti-liberal, populist or far-right parties.

Two Croatian NGOs, the Ante Zemljar association and Documenta - Centre for Dealing with the Past, held a commemorative event on Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the first prisoners on Goli Otok (Naked Island) in the Adriatic Sea off Croatia's northern coast.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker congratulated Kyriakos Mitsotakis on his victory in Sunday's Greek general election while cautioning that the highly indebted country still had a tough economic task ahead.

The efforts of EU leaders to appoint the President of the European Commission went on for third day on July 2. Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borissov took part in the meetings, reports BNT.