Impeachment lowers uncertainties for Brazil, challenges remain: Moody's

International credit ratings agency Moody's said Thursday that Dilma Rousseff's impeachment removed an aspect of political uncertainty in the country, but a lot remains to be done to improve its credit outlook.

EU parliament president Schulz says bloc wants UK out 'as soon as possible'

EU Parliament President Martin Schulz told Britain to start negotiations to quit the bloc "as soon as possible", after outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday he would leave the negotiations to his successor.

Putin: Russia’s first priority in Syria is to keep the country unified

The Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the West for the chaos in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

UN Security Council to prepare 'further measures' against North Korea

The UN Security Council agreed on Wednesday to prepare further unspecified measures against North Korea after it carried out a fourth nuclear test.

Germany: Greek euro exit is now possible, report says

 Germany is prepared to accept a Greek exit from the euro, the magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

"The German government considers a Eurozone exit by Greece to be almost inevitable if opposition leader Alexis Tsipras leads the government after the election and abandons budgetary discipline and does not repay the country's debts," Der Spiegel reported on its website, citing unnamed government sources.

EU politicians not unanimous over Ukraine's future after parliamentary elections

German government considers those elections an important step towards stability, whereas an Italian politician and journalist Giulietto Chiesa believes that stability in Ukraine is still very far away ...


MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Ukraine’s newly-elected parliament is unlikely to restore Ukraine to stability, Italian politician and journalist, Giulietto Chiesa, has told TASS.
“Stability is still very far away. Apparently, after the elections the prevailing presence of right-wing parties inside the Verkhovna Rada will be used as a pretext for an offensive (against Donetsk and Luhansk regions),” Chiesa said.

Bulgarian authorities see illegal attempts to destabilize banking system

Bulgarian authorities on Friday saw illegal attempts to destabilize country's banking system amid queues of people trying to withdraw their money from cash desks....

Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev told reporters that there has been an attack through the Internet and text messages via mobile phones to massively disturb people.

"We have found malicious and deliberate attempts to destabilize the banking system, and an investigation has been carried out in this direction since yesterday," Yovchev said.

Banking union made easy: a five-minute guide to the EU's new rules

A banking union is being set up by the EU to help keep Europe's financial system stable and prevent another crisis from taking place. It requires finding a fast and efficient way to deal with failing banks while ensuring that taxpayers are spared from paying for bankers' mistakes. As MEPs prepare to vote on 15 April on an agreement with the Council on how to deal with failing banks, we take a closer look at the issues involved. Read on for an overview of how banking in Europe is about to change.

EU is aware that Ukrainian economy is in really terrible shape. - analyst

The European Commission has proposed another 1 billion euro for Kiev, which will come as a part of the 11 billion euro package agreed earlier in March. A rapidly worsening balance-of-payments and weak fiscal situation in the wake of the latest developments in Ukraine pushed the EU to consider a new perk. The Voice of Russia talked to Lilit Gevorgyan is a Russia/CIS country analyst with IHS Global Insight and Jane's Information Group.

How can this financial aid change the situation in Ukraine? In your opinion, will it somehow help to stabilize the country’s economy?

Ten years since the signature of the Treaty of Athens

Ten years ago, on April 16, 2003, the Treaty of Accession to the European Union of 10 European countries – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia – was signed in Athens. This historical event took place during the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union and is enshrined forever as one of the most important documents of the reunited Europe. Later, on May 1, 2004, all our countries became fully fledged members of the reunified European family comprising 25 member states at that time. It was the largest single expansion since the Paris Treaty of 1951, the forerunner of the EU, in terms of population, number of states and territory.
Moreover, it was the symbolic completion of the vital strategic goal of all the acceding member states to finally put an end to the post-World War II period by returning to the common space of freedom and stability, democracy and prosperity. The signature of the Treaty of Athens opened a new era for the acceding countries, for their citizens and ultimately for the whole of Europe.