French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Beirut next week to pressure local politicians into pressing ahead with the creation of a government that can implement urgent reforms, a French presidential official said on Friday.

Greece called on Friday for EU sanctions on Turkey amid lingering tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, ekathimerini wrote.  “I am waiting with great interest for Josep Borrell’s announcement on the options for sanctions on Turkey,” Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said ahead of an informal meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Berlin.

The EU agreed to impose sanctions on up to 20 senior Belarus officials suspected of election fraud and the crackdown on protesters and is likely to put President Alexander Lukashenko on its list at some point, the Union’s foreign ministers announced.

Germany has scrapped plans to discuss Brexit at a high-level diplomatic meeting next week because there has not been “any tangible progress” in talks, the Guardian reported. EU officials now believe the UK government is prepared to risk a no-deal exit when the transition period comes to an end on 31 December, and will try to pin the blame on Brussels if talks fail.

The EU has suspended its training missions in Mali after the military coup this month that removed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita from power, EU officials said on Wednesday, adding the suspension was temporary.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged Greek and Turkish leaders on Tuesday to solve their dispute over overlapping resource claims in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, citing the risk of a military confrontation. "The current situation in the eastern Mediterranean is equivalent to playing with fire," he said after talks in Athens with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias. "Every little spark can lead to catastrophe."

Greece and Turkey conducted today rival naval exercises off the Greek island of Crete amid rising tension over claims to gas and oil in the Eastern Mediterranean, news wires reported. Greece announced its exercises after Turkey said it would extend a mission by a seismic research ship, while Turkey sent out an official warning to other vessels to avoid the area.

The preliminary test results from the Charité – Universitätsmedizin hospital in Berlin indicate that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned during his stay in Siberia. The EU strongly condemns what seems to be an attempt on Navalny’s life, EU diplomacy head Josep Borrell stated on Monday urging Kremlin to start prompt and independent probe of the case.

The European Commission on Friday called on Moscow to allow swiftly for treatment in Germany of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as a probe into his suspected poisoning, Reuters reported.

The latest negotiating round between Britain and the EU on their future relationship after a post-Brexit transition period runs out at the end of 2020 brought no breakthroughs this week on the key sticking points, an EU official said on Friday cited by Reuters.