Borrell

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that the accelerated deployment of U.S. troops in Afghanistan showed that the European Union needed to speed up efforts to build a common defense policy, Reuters writes.

Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Tuesday had a telephone conversation with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, regarding the attack on the ship Mercer Street, a conversation initiated by Aurescu in continuation of the political and diplomatic steps undertaken by Romania so far.

EU spokesman Peter Stano said it was a "forgery".
Stano told "Klan Kosova" that such a document did not come from Brussels. "Usually, we do not comment on media reports regarding alleged EU documents. In this particular case, the document is a complete forgery and the EU has never written something like that," Stano said.

The European Union should support Turkey for hosting more than four million refugees, the EU's foreign policy chief said on March 18. 

Josep Borrell made the remarks after visiting the command center of Operation Irini, the EU initiative to implement a UN arms embargo on Libya.

The European Union is likely to impose new sanctions on Russia over the Navalny case following the unsuccessful visit to Moscow by its top diplomat Josep Borrell, said experts interviewed by Izvestia. Borrell faced criticism in the EU, where his trip was deemed to be a failure.

At the moment of strained relations with Russia, some EU members, with their defending the Russian Nord Stream gas pipeline, further deepen the divisions in Europe and in the transatlantic partnership, writes the EUobserver portal, as EURACTIV reports.

Greece is expecting Turkey to make some "tangible steps of substantial progress" so that the exploratory talks that started in Istanbul on monday can move ahead, diplomatic sources said on Monday after the meeting of the foreign affairs council.

Turkey and the European Union have started the year positively and steps to restart talks with Greece over hydrocarbons in the Mediterranean are welcome, but the EU remains concerned about human rights, the bloc's top envoy said on Thursday.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has reiterated criticism of Turkey's decision to reopen part of the beachfront of Varosha, a resort abandoned since Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974.

With the European Council last week seen as a milestone of the European Union's indecision to put the brake on Turkish provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean, Athens is drafting its next moves for the coming weeks and months.