Turkish opposition unites for presidential elections in 2023

One of Turkey's most influential women in politics, Canan Kaftancıoğlu, was taken to jail to serve a five-year sentence for insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but was later released. Kaftancıoğlu is president of the Republican People's Party's (CHP) in Istanbul. Six major opposition parties have agreed to continue cooperating against Erdogan's rule ahead of the 2023 presidential election, CNN Turk reported. These are CHP, the Iyi Party, the DEVA Party, the Future Party, the Democrat Party and the Saadet Party. They announced 10 goals for fair elections, central bank independence and media freedom. The united opposition also calls for the establishment of a commission on migration and the fight against terrorism.

Romania to impose embargo on Russian investments in the country

The removal of Russian companies from Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta is a matter of time, Romanian Defense Minister Vasile Dîncu said, quoted by Agerpres. Regarding Russian investments in Romania, the minister said that Bucharest fully complied with the decisions taken at European level. Speaking about the situation in the port of Constanta, where Russian companies own three of the four ships that supply other vessels with fuel, Dîncu said it was only a matter of time before measures were taken in line with EU decisions. The minister added that there were few Russian investments in Romania that need to be placed under embargo.

Greece to send Soviet armored vehicles to Ukraine

The Greek Ministry of Defense has confirmed that it will provide Ukraine with Soviet-made BMP-1 infantry armored vehicles for the same number of modern German Marder armored vehicles, kathimerini.com wrote. The news was announced by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said that he had agreed on the scheme with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Athens has 147 BMP-1s delivered from the former GDR. The opposition said it was inadmissible for the Greek people to learn such important news from a foreign politician. Leftist leader Alexis Tsipras warned that the parliament had only agreed to send humanitarian aid for Ukraine and called for a parliamentary debate on the case.

New government in Ljubljana says Slovenia to return to EU’s core

The Slovenian parliament has approved the new center-left government of Prime Minister Robert Golob. 53 MPs out of 90 supported the government, which includes ministers from the Freedom Movement Party, the Social Democrats and the Left. The cabinet consists of 17 ministers as 7 of them are women. The cabinet’s priorities include improving health and social care, depoliticizing the police, clean energy and expanding media freedoms, the prime minister said. Former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec becomes Minister of Defense and MEP Tanja Fajon becomes foreign minister. She said she wanted Slovenia to return to EU’s core and be closer to countries such as Germany, France and Italy, while the previous government gravitated more towards the Visegrad Group, which includes the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

Croatia ready to adopt the euro in 2023

The European Commission has announced that Croatia meets all the criteria for joining the eurozone, enabling the country to become the 20th member of the single currency area on January 1st, 2023. This happens less than a decade after Croatia joined the EU. According to Brussels, Zagreb has met the strict conditions for joining the single currency, including keeping inflation within the allowed EU limits, as well as reasonable public spending. Adopting the euro "will make Croatia's economy stronger, bringing benefits to its citizens, businesses and society at large," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Compiled by: Ivo Ivanov

English: Alexander Markov