Ulf

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday it was "meaningless" to hold a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland to discuss their NATO bids after protests this month in Stockholm.

Speaking at a news conference, Cavusoglu also said there is no offer to evaluate Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership separately.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Friday denounced a protest by Kurds in central Stockholm, where an effigy of Turkey's president was hung from a lamppost, as an act of "sabotage" against Sweden's bid to join NATO.

Turkish prosectors opened a probe on Friday into an incident in Stockholm in which an effigy of President Tayyip Erdogan was strung up, state media said, adding further diplomatic strain in Sweden's bid to win Turkey's approval to join NATO.

As of today, Croatia has become the 20th member of the Eurozone and the 27th member of the Schengen area. More than 70 border points with Slovenia and Hungary and 12 - along the sea border are being removed. On this occasion, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is expected in Zagreb.