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Stories in this section cover the EU-27 countries plus the UK, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and the Balkan Countries (Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia).

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A new era of peace in the Eastern Mediterranean

A new era of peace in the Eastern Mediterranean

A ground breaking meeting between the President of Turkiye, Recip Tayip Erdogan, and Greek Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Monday (13 May) is being hailed as the dawn of a new era of peace in the Eastern Mediterranean. Mitsotakis was in Ankara as the guest of the Turkish leader. There are no unsolvable problems between Athens and Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, as he and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis praised the state of relations between the two neighbors while pledging to further enhance bilateral ties. "We had a constructive and positive meeting and discussed problems in Türkiye-Greece relations; We will solve problems through dialogue," Erdoğan said at a joint news conference with Mitsotakis. Erdoğan said that Ankara and Athens are committed to resolving issues via "cordial dialogue, good neighborly ties, and international law" as outlined in last year's Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good-Neighborliness. Improvement of bilateral relations with Türkiye is yielding concrete and positive results, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said "I can only begin by thanking you for the warm hospitality today in Ankara, it was a fourth meeting in the last 10 months, which I believe proves that the two neighbors can now establish this approach of mutual understanding, no longer as some exception, but as a productive normality that is not negated by the known differences in our positions," Mitsotakis said. He said bilateral relations have been progressing, as agreed by the parties, on three levels: political dialogue, positive agenda and confidence-building measures. "I believe that it is a positive development in a difficult time for international peace, but also for the broader stability in our region," the Greek leader said.

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EU foreign policy chief to visit Iran Monday

EU foreign policy chief to visit Iran Monday

Following in the footsteps of his two predecessors, Catherine Ashton and Federica Morgherni, Borrell is engaging personally and fully with the "Iran nuclear file", and the visit is seen as an attempt by the EU to save the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
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Opinion
Opinion: Will Putin allow Belarus to play a balancing act?

Opinion: Will Putin allow Belarus to play a balancing act?

With Pompeo due in Minsk this week, and the Belarus presidential elections on the horizon, Moscow and Minsk have some difficult decisions to take. Benyamin Poghosyan discusses the state of Russia-Belarus relations in this op-ed for commonspace.eu
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Merkel in Turkey for talks with Erdogan

Merkel in Turkey for talks with Erdogan

The German Chancellor joined the Turkish president on Friday morning for the official opening of the new German-Turkish University in Istanbul. The two leaders were expected to hold talks later on a range of regional and international issues.
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Commentary
Monday Commentary: It's time to talk!

Monday Commentary: It's time to talk!

Recent events in the Middle East are the latest flare-up in an arc of crisis around Europe. The EU needs to push ahead with a structured dialogue to explore solutions, argues Dennis Sammut in this week's Monday Commentary.