Ansa news

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 12 - Austria has opened a new railway line that includes one of the world's longest railway tunnels, according to the news agency DPA. The Koralm Railway, which is 130 kilometres long, connects the cities of Graz and Klagenfurt and is expected to significantly reduce travel times and improve rail connections between northern and southern Europe. The train journey between the two southern state capitals now takes 41 minutes, down from nearly three hours by train and two hours…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 12 - "In Heidelberg, I had a very pleasant and positive meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. We share a common vision of Europe's role and the need to strengthen EU action on security, competitiveness, and migration issues," Antonio Tajani wrote in X following the meeting on the sidelines of the EPP meeting. "We will continue to work closely with Berlin to establish a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and the Middle East as soon as possible. The next Intergovernmental Summit,…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 12 - "The European integration process is not yet complete and faces new challenges, reinforcing its appeal. The ambitions, efforts, and will of our neighbours, from the Western Balkans to Moldova, Ukraine to Georgia, must be matched by the Union's active willingness to welcome them." This was stated by the Italian President Sergio Mattarella during his speech at the New Year's Eve greeting ceremony for diplomats. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 12 - Slovakia will not support any solution that would fund Ukraine's military spending at the next EU summit, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced in the Slovak Parliament yesterday, after reading his letter to European Council President Antonio Costa. "Slovakia will not participate in plans that merely prolong suffering and killing," Fico stated. Furthermore, in his letter to Costa, Fico stated that he will not support "any solution that includes covering Ukraine's…

(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, DEC 12 - Germany said Friday it had identified two Russian cyber operations, targeting air traffic control and February's general election, and that it had summoned the Russian ambassador. A foreign ministry spokesman said: "We can now clearly attribute the cyberattack against German Air Safety in August 2024 to the hacker collective APT28, also known as Fancy Bear. "Second, we can now state definitively that Russia, through the Storm 1516 campaign, sought to influence and destabilise…

(ANSA-AFP) - PRISTINA, DEC 12 - Kosovo has started accepting migrants that the United States wants to deport, under an accord with President Donald Trump's administration, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said. "We are accepting those whom the United States does not want on its territory," Kurti said a television interview late Thursday, adding that one or two of the migrants had arrived in the Balkan state. Under the accord reached in June, Kosovo could accept up to 50 people, according to the Kurti…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 12 - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán criticised the EU's decision to indefinitely renew sanctions on Russian assets in Europe, citing Article 122 of the Treaty, which allows for qualified majority voting. "Today, Brussels is crossing the Rubicon," Orbán said, pointing to a procedure that allows the EU to "eliminate the unanimity requirement with the stroke of a pen, clearly illegal." "With today's decision," he continued, "the rule of law in the EU has come to an end,…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 12 - EssilorLuxottica has announced the acquisition of Signifeye, a leading Belgian ophthalmic platform that provides excellent care through 15 clinics and diagnostic centres in Flanders. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. This comes after the recent acquisition of Optegra, a rapidly expanding and fully integrated European ophthalmic platform with over 70 clinics in the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and the Netherlands. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - VILNIUS, DEC 11 - The Latvian president, Edgars Rinkevics, met today in Riga with his Polish counterpart, Karol Nawrocki, with whom he discussed the implementation of bilateral relations with a focus on regional security and the defense sector. The bilateral focused, in particular, on the need to ensure greater security of the Atlantic Alliance's eastern border and greater resilience to hybrid attacks coming from Belarus. Rinkevics and Nawrocki said they were convinced that alongside even…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 11 - Franco Dal Mas, Secretary General of the Central European Initiative (CEI), visited Bucharest yesterday and today to discuss the Romanian CEI Presidency's priorities for 2026. FM Minister Toiu outlined a mandate aimed at achieving concrete results, with a particular emphasis on assisting candidate countries' European paths, strengthening regional connectivity, combating misinformation, and engaging local governments and young people. Dal Mas emphasised the importance…

(ANSA-AFP) - SOFIA, DEC 11 - Bulgaria's prime minister announced Thursday that his government was resigning after less than a year in office following a series of anti-graft protests. "The government resigns today," Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov told reporters after a meeting of ruling parties' leaders. (ANSA-AFP).

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 11 - "I received a message from Moscow": Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić's outburst during his meeting with EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa in Brussels last night caused a stir. Cameras captured Vučić's remarks during the traditional pre-meeting photo opportunity. The Serbian president spoke into an open microphone, and von der Leyen responded, embarrassed, "Let's wait... let's wait until..." without finishing her sentence. During the working dinner,…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 11 - Protesters in Bulgaria have launched new protests against the government, accusing it of corruption and mafia connections. Over 50,000 people gathered late into the evening in Sofia's Independence Square, which overlooks the parliamentary, government, and presidential buildings, known as the "triangle of power," to demand the government's immediate resignation. The protesters held signs reading "The mafia government is over!" "The last straw has spilt over," and "This…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 10 - "We must open more safe routes to Europe. We must build more bridges between our continents so people can find jobs where their talent is needed and take their skills beyond our borders. This is at the heart of our new partnerships for talent, which offer employment pathways to Europe. So far, five countries have joined these partnerships, and we hope others will follow suit." This was stated by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who clarified that migrant…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 10 - "Our position is clear, and I can state unequivocally that Volodymyr Zelensky is a duly elected president who has every right to do so. Ukraine must decide everything else." Steffen Meyer, the German Chancellor's spokesman, said this at a press conference in Berlin, in response to a question about Donald Trump's request for new elections in Ukraine and the Ukrainian leader's willingness to comply. "We've taken note of his statement," he said. According to Zelensky himself,…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 10 - "Italy has worked on proposing innovative solutions, which are now viewed with increasing interest and becoming common practice. I am referring, first and foremost, to the Albania Protocol. This model was part of the European path for managing asylum requests and repatriations outside the EU but under European jurisdiction," said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Global Alliance against Migrant Smuggling Conference. Meloni referred to the EU Home Affairs Council's…

(ANSA) - PORDENONE, DEC 10 - "A survey of Central European poetry of our time, five seasons to compose an extraordinary poetic map in the heart of Europe: poetry, therefore, as a means of reconstructing, through a new network of relationships between poets and scholars, the Central European cultural fabric that was lost after World War II, particularly on the level of the poetic tradition." this, for the artistic director of pordenonelegge, Gian Mario Villalta, is the goal of the new project that…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 10 - The European Parliament and Council agreed overnight to reduce emissions by 90% by 2040, with a number of flexibility measures to make the trajectory less rigid. The agreement, reached after a single negotiating session, allows for the inclusion of up to 5% of non-EU international carbon credits in the emissions balance sheet starting in 2036. The agreement confirms a one-year delay in the implementation of the ETS2 system for transport and buildings from 2027 to 2028,…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 9 - "We had an excellent and in-depth meeting with Meloni to discuss all aspects of the diplomatic situation. We appreciate Italy's active role in developing concrete ideas and defining strategies to bring peace closer. I informed her about the work of our negotiating team, and we are coordinating our diplomatic efforts. We rely heavily on Italy's continued support; it is critical for Ukraine," Zelensky wrote on X. "I also want to express my gratitude for the energy assistance…

(ANSA-AFP) - VILNIUS, DEC 9 - Lithuania on Tuesday declared an "emergency situation" over an influx of balloons launched from neighbouring Belarus by smugglers, describing it as a "hybrid attack" orchestrated by Minsk. The measure is one step below a "state of emergency", which can only be declared by parliament when the country's "constitutional order" is in danger. Lithuania previously declared an emergency situation due to an influx of migrants across the border in 2021, and also described it…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 9 - According to Bloomberg, German lawmakers are expected to approve 29 military procurement contracts worth a record €52 billion next week as part of the government's efforts to transform the Bundeswehr into Europe's most powerful conventional army. The orders encompass a wide range of materials and services, including €22 billion for basic military equipment and clothing, €4.2 billion for Puma infantry fighting vehicles, €3 billion for Arrow 3 interceptor missiles…

(ANSA) - TRIESTE, DEC 9 - "Not only history and tradition unite us, but also the future, which we are building together, and this city proves it." This is the message of "friendship between Serbia and Italy, based on mutual respect and cooperation" spread by Serbian first lady Tamara Vucic at the unveiling of a plaque to the memory of Dositej Obradović, writer, reformer and founder of modern Serbian education, who stayed in Trieste in the early 19th century. A friendship that is summed up in the…

(ANSA-AFP) - PRAGUE, DEC 9 - Andrej Babis, a billionaire supporter of US President Donald Trump, returned to power as Czech prime minister on Tuesday, signalling a possible end to Ukraine aid and potentially rockier ties with the European Union. Babis's ANO movement, which won October parliamentary elections, teamed up with two eurosceptic parties to form a coalition government. In its policy statement, the coalition said the EU had "its limits" and no right to impose decisions infringing on the…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 9 - Hungary is "protecting its energy supplies" from Russia in response to "attacks" by Kiev and the European Union, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated during a visit to Moscow. "We must constantly protect oil and gas supplies from attacks from Kiev and Brussels," Szijjarto stated, as reported by Tass. "Brussels' attacks on us are both legal and juridical. Ukraine is physically attacking our oil and gas infrastructure," he added. (ANSA).

(di Francesco De Filippo) (ANSA) - TRIESTE, DEC 8 - VINCENZO DE LUCIA, "WOMEN'S STORIES. STUMPS IN TIME OF WAR FALLEN IN OBLIGATION" (Mimesis; 122 pp.; 12 euro) The subject of a collective repression that may have multiple reasons-such as the fact that World War II was such a slaughterhouse that it is difficult to distinguish individual episodes and chapters of history or because the atrocities committed by the Nazis were so appalling that the revenge of the victors was foregone if not right-the…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 8 - "The centres in Albania are strongly seeking to be active for all the functions for which they were designed, including detention centres for the exercise of accelerated border procedures, but most importantly, to be the first example of those return hubs that are specifically mentioned in one of these approved regulations, "Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said on the sidelines of the EU Council. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 8 - The largest party of the Serbian community in Kosovo, Srpska Lista (SL), will run in the country's early parliamentary elections on December 28. Its appeal against its exclusion, which was decreed recently by the Electoral Commission, has been upheld. The Electoral Complaints and Appeals Body determined that the decision to exclude SL violated the law governing candidatures and political entity certification. SL's exclusion was backed in particular by Electoral Commission…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 8 - The EU Council approved a proposal to amend EU Regulation 2024/1348 regarding the application of the "safe third country" concept. Spain, Greece, France, and Portugal all opposed the proposal. However, a qualified majority was achieved. At the same time, the Council approved a regulation that creates an EU-wide list of safe countries of origin. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 8 - According to a statement, Turkey's Pegasus Airlines has committed to acquiring Czech Airlines and its subsidiary Smartwings, for a total of €154 million, allowing the Istanbul-based operator to expand internationally. Pegasus Airlines, founded in 1990, operates flights to 158 destinations in 55 countries, in addition to the 80 destinations in 20 countries served by the Czech operator and Smartwings. "We are opening a new chapter for Pegasus Airlines," commented CEO Güliz…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 8 - Ciprian Ciucu, a member of the ruling Liberal Party (PNL), is clearly leading in today's vote for Bucharest's new mayor. According to preliminary exit polls released after polls closed at 9:00 PM local time (8:00 PM Italian time), Ciucu, with 70% of the votes counted, is expected to lead with nearly 35% of the vote, ahead of Anca Alexandrescu of the far-right AUR party, who has just under 23%. Daniel Baluja of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) is next, with approximately…