EU Parliament

President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz said on Thursday that he asked the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament “to prepare a specific plan for strengthening the role of the European Parliament in monitoring the rescue programs in Greece and other countries, as requested by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.”

Head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) group in the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt spoke with Proto Thema prior to his meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday at 1 p.m. The former Belgian prime minister spoke of the challenges that lie before Greece and pointed to the need for real reforms.

European Parliament set up its own Snapchat account, the fastest growing social media network on the planet, last May in order to allow the over 200 million Snapchat users to get a fun glimpse into the workings of the EU.

EU Parliament President Martin Schulz warned Bulgarian authorities must protect the EU's external borders regardless of the fact that the country is not part of the Schengen borderless area.

Schulz made his comment on Thursday evening after attending an EU summit where the migrant crisis was the first item on the agenda.

In August 2015, the Tsipras (SYRIZA/ANEL) government agreed to a new MoU and a Financial Assistance Facility Agreement [loan agreement].

Some 4000 migrants have crossed into Croatia over the past 24 hours, the country's public broadcaster HRT has said.

Government data cited in the report suggests that, as of Thursday morning, more than 5650 people have found their way into Croatia since Hungary moved to close its border with Serbia. Another 4000 are expected in the next few days.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has openly stated his opposition to the proposed by EU measures on immigration. According to the proposal, immigrants coming into the EU would be distributed among the member states on a quota principle, based on GDP, population, and number of currently hosted immigrants. 

MEP Sergey Stanishev, who heads the Party of European Socialists (PES), is now officially running for a second term, a recent post on Facebook has suggested.

Stanishev has used his profile to remind that he will take part in the election that is to be held in Budapest on June 12-13, at a congress of his party.

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is again expected to speak by phone on Thursday evening (local time) with EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, the second time in 24 hours the two leaders will speak. The development comes in light of perceived progress — according to media reports and assorted ‘sources’ – in talks between Athens and its institutional creditors.

Well done! For me, the deal is something to celebrate, since I have always been for diplomatic solutions. Moreover, I am a fan of Iran as a beautiful country and great culture. Finally, I want to hope that it will help restore peace in the region after so much suffering at tragic human cost.