Belgium

6 July 2019; DW: Attending the Western Balkan conference in the Polish city of Poznan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to reassure North Macedonia and Albania as well as other Balkan states that the EU had a "strategic responsibility" in the region and that she was "optimistic" about accession talks, especially with regard to North Macedonia.

BRUSSELS, July 5. /TASS/: The suspension of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty will dominate the NATO-Russia Council’s meeting due in Brussels on Friday.

The meeting will be held at the level of ambassadors and Russia will be represented by Acting Permanent Representative to NATO Yuri Gorlach.

"The sides are planning to outline each others’ positions on the INF Treaty, we do not expect any real agreements. They will also discuss military activity in Europe and may mention the situation in Ukraine as well," a diplomatic source in Brussels told TASS.

3 July 2019; DW: Last month was the hottest June ever recorded, the European Union's satellite agency said Tuesday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) program revealed the continent's average temperature for the month was 2 degrees Celsius hotter than normal.

"Although this was exceptional, we are likely to see more of these events in the future due to climate change," C3S head Jean-Noel Thepaut said.

3 July 2019; DW: The European Council proposed German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen to become European Commission president, European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday.

Von der Leyen, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives (CDU/CSU), would be the first female Commission president if confirmed by the European Parliament. Her nomination needs an absolute majority of the chamber's 751 members to be ratified.

Brussels, Jul 3 (AFP/PTI) Senior EU chiefs on Tuesday warned Britain the bloc's new leadership would not change course and offer concessions on the Brexit deal struck with London.

European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday he was "absolutely sure" the new leaders chosen after marathon summit talks would not waver.

Both men running to succeed British Prime Minister Theresa May -- Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt -- say they want to renegotiate the divorce agreement thrashed out with the EU.

2 July 2019; DW: European Union leaders gathered in Brussels on Tuesday for a third day of talks after they failed to come to an agreement on the bloc's top jobs during a marathon 18-hour session the day before.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was entering Tuesday's talks with "new creativity" and urged other leaders to be more open to compromise.

1 July 2019; DW: Unemployment in the eurozone dropped to 7.5% in May, the lowest rate recorded since July 2008, the European statistic agency Eurostat reported Monday.

The data showed the number of jobless in the 19 countries using the euro currency stood at 12.3 million, down by 1.2 million people compared to the same period last year.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Marathon talks of European Union leaders dragged into a second day Monday as they sought to narrow a list of candidates for key posts at the helm of the 28-nation bloc amid deep divisions over how to best balance political, geographic and gender considerations.

With the selection process bogged down for the second EU summit meeting in a row, the leaders were still considering Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans to replace Christian Democrat Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the EU’s powerful executive arm, the European Commission.

29 June 2019; DW: The European Union announced that its INSTEX mechanism to facilitate trade with Iran was up and running on Friday.

"France, Germany, and the United Kingdom informed participants that INSTEX had been made operational and available to all EU member states, and that the first transactions are being processed," said an EU statement.

27 June 2019; DW: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said that the alliance was considering ways to bolster defenses against the threat of new Russian missile systems if Moscow fails to comply with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) by August.