European Commission

Specialists in airbase technology will come to Cyprus in January to give their views on the upgrade of the Andreas Papandreou airbase in Paphos, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, said in an interview with the newspaper “Phileleftheros”.

Ukraine, a global producer and exporter of grain, has sent its first batch of food aid to Syria, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced today.

“The data confirms the reliability of our economy,” stated Vassilis Korkidis, President of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, commenting on the figures regarding the economic assessment of 2024.

Mr. Korkidis elaborated:

The EU has threatened further sanctions against Russian vessels after Finland said it was probing an oil tanker that sailed from a Russian port for the "sabotage" of a power cable linking the country and Estonia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico of wanting to "help" President Vladimir Putin by continuing to import Russian gas.

Zelensky said EU leaders had observed that Fico, who visited Moscow on Dec. 22, opposes reducing energy dependence on Russia, "implying that he wants to help Putin earn money to fund the war and weaken Europe."

Bulgaria is nearing the fulfillment of its last nominal criterion for joining the eurozone, with expectations set for mid-January.

The European Commission has for the first time placed Greece among the countries where it sees risks in achieving the goal of social convergence. Next year it will prepare a detailed report for each of the 10 countries in this category, which also includes Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Luxembourg.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to visit Magdeburg following a tragic incident at the city's Christmas market, where a car plowed into visitors, leaving two people dead and over 50 injured. The attack, which occurred last night, has shocked the nation as authorities work to determine the motives behind it.

Greece on Friday submitted its fifth request to the European Commission for a disbursement under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), amounting to 3.1 billion euros.