New Direct Flights Connect Sofia and Krakow
Wizz Air has launched a new flight connection between Sofia and Krakow, Poland
Foreign ministers from four ex-Communist countries of eastern Europe are meeting on Monday with officials from the current EU president Luxembourg to declare their opposition to a proposal to introduce binding quotas for redistribution of migrants among EU member states.
The so-called Visegrad Group – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia – are the main opponents of the proposal put forward by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker earlier this month. The proposal calls for the redistribution across the EU of 120,000 migrants from Italy, Greece and Hungary – the three EU member states worst affected by the current migrant influx from the Middle East and North Africa.
In addition to stating again their opposition to mandatory migrant quotas, the four countries will demand that the EU stepped up efforts to weed out economic migrants. They also intend to state that that Eastern Europe is neither financially nor culturally suited to accept large masses of migrants.
The meeting in Prague comes ahead of crunch talks on the migrant crisis in Brussels. On Tuesday, EU interior ministers will try to find some sort of agreement on the European Commission proposal. On Wednesday, a summit of EU leaders will discuss other issues related to migration such as aid to Turkey and border controls inside Europe. Non-EU Turkey hosts some two million migrants, most of them coming from Syria and trying to reach western Europe.
EU ambassadors in Brussels had spent the weekend working on draft conclusions for Tuesday’s meeting of interior ministers, EUobserver reported on Monday.
According to an EU inside source, a draft text of a decision of the ministerial meeting “no longer contains” the Commission’s formula for redistribution based on GDP and population of each EU member state, EUobserver said.
Ursula von der Leyen is facing a political storm in Brussels after her European Commission decided to pull a major environmental bill
The European Commission has confirmed that Bulgaria meets the inflation criterion necessary for joining the eurozone
At a meeting in Luxembourg on June 19, the finance ministers of EU member states unanimously endorsed the Eurogroup’s recommendation for Bulgaria to adopt the euro starting January 1, 2026
As hostilities between Israel and Iran stretch into their second week, European powers are intensifying diplomatic efforts to prevent a broader regional war
The Eurogroup has given its full support for Bulgaria to join the eurozone
The convergence reports on Bulgaria, issued by the European Commission and the European Central Bank, are expected to receive broad support from all Eurozone countries
Borderless Bulgaria: How Schengen Benefits Are Transforming Trade and Logistics
Bulgaria's Mortality Rate Remains Highest in Europe