European Union

During his last stop of his Western Balkan's tour, President Donald Tusk met Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Zoran Zaev. The main topic of the discussions was the preparation of the upcoming Sofia summit.

The Council adopted revised rules on the funding of European political parties and foundations.

In Sarajevo, President Tusk met Bakir Izetbegović, Mladen Ivanić and Dragan Čović, members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and discussed the state of play of preparation of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia.

As part of his tour of the Western Balkans, President Tusk visited Pristina and met President Thaçi to prepare the summit in Sofia.

The Council extends and strengthens arms embargo, and adopts a framework for restrictive measures against officials responsible for human rights violations in Myanmar / Burma.

The co-chairs of the Brussels II Conference on 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region', the European Union and the United Nations, issued a declaration.

During his visit to Serbia, President Tusk met President Aleksandar Vučić to discuss the preparation of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia and the strong bilateral relations between the EU and Serbia.

EU ambassadors confirmed an agreement reached between the Council Presidency and the European Parliament representatives on ETIAS.

At the first stop of his visit to the Western Balkans, President Donald Tusk met in Tirana Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

The leaders of North and South Korea greeted each other warmly at the start of their summit on the border between their two countries. By attending the summit Kim Jong-un has become the first North Korean leader to enter South Korea since the armistice put an end to hostilities in 1953. Commentators discuss how this symbolic gesture can help to resolve the permanent crisis on the peninsula.

After French President Macron's state visit, US President Trump will receive Angela Merkel on Friday. Should the German chancellor maintain the cool stance of her first visit one year ago, or would she do better to follow Macron's example and combine criticism with chuminess?

The editor-in-chief, its chief executive and 13 other staff at the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet were handed prison sentences ranging from two to seven years on Wednesday. They were convicted of spreading terrorist propaganda for the Gülen movement and the PKK. For some commentators the ruling does not bode well for the future of Cumhuriyet and Turkey. Others refuse to give up hope.