Oliver Varhelyi

Germany and Slovakia have called for the EU to stick to the original plan of Albania and North Macedonia progressing towards eventual mem bership as part of one package.

Serbia's President, Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo's Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, will meet EU officials in Brussels next week, but will not meet each other, it has been confirmed.

Addressing the European Parliament (EP) on Thursday, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi encouraged Skopje and Sofia to redouble their efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution to the pending bilateral issues. The EP is expected to vote later in the day on the progress reports on North Macedonia and three other Western Balkan countries.

Mr. Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement presented in Brussels a document proposing how to apply the new, revised methodology in accession of Serbia to EU, to the EU member states.

Turkey's top diplomat has called on the European Union to revitalize the accession process of his country to the EU, to launch the process for visa-free travel of Turkish nationals in the EU and start talks for upgrading the Customs Union agreement.

This is part of the European Union's strategy for a global pandemic response

EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said today that the European Commission is allocating € 3.8 billion to the Western Balkans and its EU east and south neighbors to help fight the coronavirus, according to BGNES.

Turkey's foreign minister discussed on April 7 the fight against coronavirus pandemic with 11 of his counterparts.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter that he held the fourth teleconference meeting with his counterparts from Canada, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, Morocco, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, and the U.K.

USAID will give Ukraine $ 1.2 million to combat the coronavirus spread, the agency's office in Ukraine quoted TASS as saying. 

The European Union could open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia within weeks as both countries have made good progress in their preparations, the European Commission's enlargement chief, Oliver Varhelyi, said on Thursday.

Neighbourhood and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi announced that the European Union is sending € 38 million in emergency aid to the health care system of the Western Balkan countries.

More than € 373 million is planned for the socio-economic recovery of the region from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Olivér Várhelyi wrote on Twitter.