President of the European Commission

European Parliament President Martin Schulz has been elected the leader of the body’s Social Democrat bloc, reports Deutsche Welle. 

With 191 seats, the group is the European Parliament’s second-largest faction.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has reassured Russia that it has nothing to fear from Moldova and Georgia associating with the European Union.

The European Union is to boost the financial aid it allocates to Moldova in support of its commitment to reforms, the leader of the bloc's mission to the country said.

Jean-Claude Juncker could pull out of the race for European Commission President, according to diplomatic sources.

The former Prime Minister of Luxembourg was pitted as the favorite after his European People's Party (EPP) won the most seats in the European Parliament in May's elections.

By Costas Iordanidis

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has warned that more countries could be targeted by infringement procedures over South Stream if they breach the rules.

His comments made at a G-7 press conference follow the Commission's decision earlier this week to launch a procedure against Bulgaria for non-compliance of the South Stream pipeline section with EU legislation.

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, who was the European Left’s candidate for Commission president, is to meet several of his rival hopefuls in Brussels on Wednesday.

Bulgarian socialists' leader Sergey Stanishev cannot become MEP for a brief period and return to national Parliament afterwards, prof. Ekaterina Mihaylova believes.

Legislators of Democratic Left (DIMAR), a former coalition partner which suffered a battering in last week’s European Parliament elections, met on Friday to discuss strategy and rejected an offer by party leader Fotis Kouvelis to resign from his post.

Plamen Oresharski, the Prime Minister who heads Bulgaria's socialist-led government, said Friday he has thrown his support behind EPP nominee for Commission President.

After an unsuccessful no-confidence vote in Parliament, Oresharski told the media that he had backed the bid of conservative Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission President.