Slovakia

Britain looks likely to see a change of government this week, swinging leftwards back to the center ground and the Labour party after 14 years of right-wing Conservative rule.

Voters will elect a new parliament from 7 a.m. today, with predictions of a landslide Labour win that would make Keir Starmer prime minister, 100 years after Ramsay MacDonald became the party's first.

A total of 240 firefighters from Bulgaria, Malta, Moldova and Romania will be in Greece this summer to operate together with their Greek colleagues, under the pre-deployment program implemented for the third consecutive year through the European Civil Protection Mechanism (EUCPM).

In Bulgaria, 32% of the population struggles to "make ends meet," according to Eurostat, the European statistical service. This indicator reflects whether households have sufficient financial resources to cover their monthly expenses with their available income.

The Bulgarian party "Revival" (Vazrazhdane) is set to join a newly formed group in the European Parliament alongside Germany's far-right party "Alternative for Germany" (AfD), according to a report from Spiegel. This coalition is emerging as a bloc of pro-Putin representatives within the European Parliament.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has decided to withdraw his candidacy for the position of NATO Secretary General, clearing the path for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to receive unanimous support from all 32 member countries of the alliance. The Defense Council of Romania officially endorsed Rutte's candidacy after Iohannis informed NATO allies of his withdrawal.

Bulgaria ranks near the bottom in global competitiveness, placing 58th out of 67 countries in the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2024 by the Swiss business school IMD, as reported by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD). This ranking indicates no progress since 2021 and a decline of 10 positions since 2020 and 20 since 2009.

Hungary has dropped its opposition to Mark Rutte's candidacy for NATO secretary general after a meeting between Rutte and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during the EU leaders' council in Brussels, as reported by media outlets in the Netherlands, Agence France-Presse, and the Financial Times.

Representatives from 80 countries and 4 organizations jointly called for Ukraine's "territorial integrity" to be the foundation of any peace agreement to end the war. This message, included in a joint communique, marked the conclusion of the two-day peace meeting in Switzerland. Notably, Russia was absent, having not been invited.

Gains by right wing parties in the recent European Parliament elections may stall the development of a slew of renewable energy projects across Europe.

Populist, nationalist and euroskeptic parties are on course to win just under a quarter of seats in the next European Union (EU) assembly, according to the chamber's own projections.

Amid all the excitement about the election results for parties, also look out for the participation rate. Turnout of voters is an under-estimated data-point in European elections. In 2019, more than half of voters turned out for the first time in 25 years, breaking the trend of declining participation at every election down to the historic low of 42.6% in 2014.