Politics of the European Union

"This is an important day for all us," the Croat member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, Dragan Covic, said on Monday after presenting the application for EU membership.

The EU will unveil Feb. 9 plans to give it power to examine energy contracts that European states sign with countries outside the bloc, amid concerns about Europe's dependence on Russian gas.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has secured allowance to a ban on in-work benefits for EU migrant workers, at a meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk.

The step will be enforced if London votes to stay in the EU. Other member states will also have to agree to the proposal.

The European Commission issued on Wednesday its latest report on steps taken by Bulgaria on judicial reform and the fight against corruption and organised crime.

The European Union is closely watching whether Turkey's actions are affecting the record flow of migrants to Europe, after the EU reached a $3 billion deal with Ankara to curb migration last year, European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Jan. 25. 

In a hypothetical referendum on EU membership, every third EU citizen would vote in favour of one's country to leave the Union.

This is revealed by a survey of Gallup International conducted in 14 EU member-states including both founding countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands and new members such as Bulgaria and Romania.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will invite Aleksandar Vucic and Isa Mustafa to meet in Brussels after New Year's and Christmas holidays.

Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti is reporting this on Monday, quoting "EU diplomatic circles."

291 lawmakers in Greece sanctioned an omnibus bill of 13 prior actions with 153 voting in favor, 138 voted against.

The new bill gives the right to sell bad business loans from local banks to overseas distress funds as part of a new austerity bill demanded by bailout lenders from the rest of the eurozone.

EU leaders will debate sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict at a summit this week and are expected to extend them for six months, foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Dec. 14.

The European Commission has started legal action against Greece, Italy and Croatia for failing to correctly register migrants. Greece has been criticized for failure to fingerprint around 121,000 of the almost 500,000 people who arrived in the country between July 20 and November 30, 2015, according to EC estimates.