Belgium

21 Mar 2023; MEMO: The European Union expressed deep regret on Monday over remarks made by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a Jewish community event in France. Echoing the words of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, far-right extremist Smotrich claimed that there is "no such thing as Palestinians" and they are a "fictitious nation invented only to battle against the Zionist movement."

21 Mar 2023; MEMO: European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell yesterday announced that the EU is concerned about the deteriorating political and economic situation in Tunisia and fears it may collapse.

19 Mar 2023; AA: The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have agreed on how to implement an EU-backed deal to normalize ties, the bloc's foreign policy chief said on Saturday.

The agreement came after 12 hours of talks between Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and EU officials in Ohrid, North Macedonia.

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is spearheading a new drive this week to see Finland and Sweden become members of the world’s biggest military organization by the time U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet for their next summit in July.

Fearing that they might be targeted next after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the Nordic neighbors abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO’s security umbrella.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Nearly a decade after a brazen diamond heist at Brussels airport, it looks like a near-perfect crime.

While one person was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison and a small part of the loot — estimated in 2013 to be worth $50 million — was recovered, 18 other people were acquitted in 2018 and four more were acquitted on appeal Wednesday, leaving it unclear whether the mastermind will ever be found.

BRUSSLS, March 5. /TASS/: The European Commission’s position that Russian banks that have been disconnected from SWIFT can use fax or e-mail to make transactions with European banks are void, since European banks cannot operate in this regime, two separate sources in the banking sector told TASS on Sunday.

3 Mar 2023; MEMO: The European Union's Envoy to the Palestinians called on Friday for accountability, and for perpetrators to be brought to justice after a rampage by Israeli settlers this week in the Occupied West Bank in which one Palestinian was killed and dozens of houses, shops and cars were torched, Reuters reports.

BRUSSELS, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The European Union published its peace plan for Serbia and Kosovo on Monday, ramping up pressure on their leaders to come to a deal after tense talks in Brussels ended without a clear breakthrough.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said a next meeting with Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic would take place in March and focus on how to implement the plan.

BRUSSELS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Several thousand demonstrators called for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis here on Sunday.

The demonstrators called for negotiations to achieve a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis. "This is the only way forward," Thierry Bodson, president of the General Labour Federation of Belgium (FGTB), told Xinhua.

"Let's stop the fire ... Let the politicians settle the diplomatic affairs, the people want peace, bread," demonstrator Yvyes Eckman said.

BRUSSELS, Feb  26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — New EU sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine adopted on Saturday target 121 individuals and entities, including Iranian drone manufacturers, officials said.

 The measures, agreed late Friday ahead of Saturday’s formal adoption, are the 10th round of European Union sanctions aimed at undercutting Russia’s finances and military supplies used in its invasion that started a year ago.