European Union

The European Commission (EC) will allocate EUR 25 M of EU funding to Bulgaria and Turkey for cross-border cooperation on environmental protection and sustainable tourism.

U.S. President Barack Obama told the BBC in an interview excerpt that aired on July 23 that Britain must remain in the European Union to maintain its global influence.

Britain's EU membership "gives us much greater confidence about the strength of the transatlantic union," Obama said, adding the EU had "made the world safer and more prosperous." 

In an immediate response to a request for assistance from Greece, the EU provided firefighting planes to help stop the spread of forest fires in several parts of the country, including in the outskirts of Athens.

The number of migrants arriving in Hungary is "unprecedented," EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos has said.

He at the same time warned against "unilateral solutions."

By Francesco Guarascio

The European Commission is set to propose next week that 40,000 asylum seekers who have arrived by boat in Italy and Greece should be relocated across the continent in response to what it considers an emergency situation in both countries.

Some 3,700 migrants have been rescued off Libya's coast in a joint operation of Italian and French navy vessels on Saturday and early Sunday, according to the Italian Coast Guard.

EU competition regulators are set to announce April 15 whether they will file anti-trust charges against Google over its domination of the European search market, sources close to the case told AFP.
      

PRISTINA - Freedom of movement is one of the EU's objectives, but Kosovo should first meet certain requirements for the visa liberalization regime to be put in place, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said in Pristina on Wednesday.

BRUSSELS - Serbia on Tuesday finished the screening of the last of the 35 chapters in its EU accession talks, completing a significant section of its European path, Serbia's chief EU negotiator Tanja Miscevic told reporters.

Much work lies ahead for us now to prepare the opening of the first chapters, Miscevic said after the screening for Chapter 33 (budget and finances) ended.

The European Union and Taiwan have said a bid by Turkish appliance manufacturer Vestel to get Ankara to impose emergency import tariffs on mobile phones would probably be illegal if it is approved, according to documents published on late March 23.