The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso emphasised the importance of relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan during a short but highly significant official visit to Baku during which he met with President Ilham Aliev.

Friday, 13 June: The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, is in Tbilisi on a visit aimed at expressing European support for Georgia ahead of it signing an Association Agreement with the EU on June 27. President Barroso dismissed speculation that Russia may put pressure on Georgia ahead of the signing. "We have to be firm in the respect of sovereign right of any country to decide its own future", he said, adding that "Georgia has made a choice and we are here to support the choice of Georgia."

Days before local elections, Georgia's ruling coalition is faced with plummeting ratings and accusations of intimidation by political opponents. Joseph Alexander Smith reports from Tbilisi for commonspace.eu.

There are reports that an Armenian soldier was killed yesterday on the front line separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. The soldier was named as Derenyk Manukyan

The two sides have unusually agreed that the report about an Armenian attack on Nakhcivan was false.

A party calling for unification with Russia has won elections in the self-declared republic of South Ossetia. Yet the Kremlin is wary of further provoking the international community and South Ossetia is likely to remain in a state of limbo for a long time.

As Georgia prepares to enter in a new Association relationship with the EU, euroscepticism makes an appearance in an unlikely form ahead of poll. Joseph Alexander Smıth reports from Tbilisi for commonspace.eu.

On 6 June 1944, British, US and Canadian forces invaded the coast of northern France in Normandy leading to the defeat of fascism and nazism in Europe eleven months later.

Two Armenian soldiers have been killed on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan's Nakhcivan's Autonomous Republic. Armenian sources say that the two soldiers were killed by Azerbaijani sniper fire. The area was the scene of a similar incident earlier this week in which an Azerbaijani soldier died. The soldiers were 26 year old Andranik Yegoyan and twenty-two year old Boris Gasparyan. Despite cease fire that has been in place for the last twenty years daily incidents are resulting in increasing fatalities on both sides.

G7 Communique states that "Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, and actions to de-stabilise eastern Ukraine are unacceptable and must stop."