There is “serious divergence” between Britain and the EU on their future relationship, the EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Thursday after the first round of talks between the two sides on a new deal after Brexit. “An agreement is possible, even if difficult,” he told journalists.

Just days before formal trade negotiations with the EU are to begin, British PM Boris Johnson threatened late on Thursday that Britain would walk away from talks in June if its demands for full control over its own rules and laws are not met. His stance is an answer to EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, who said a day earlier there will be no trade deal unless the UK agrees to the Union’s demands on fair competition.

Europe cannot exist as a whole, stable and prosperous alliance without integrating the Western Balkans. This was the main messages from a conference on the European perspective of the region held last Monday in the Greek port city of Thessaloniki, news wires reported. The foreign ministers of Greece, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Slovenia as well as representatives of the Commission and the Western Balkans states attended the event.

The leaders of Germany and France told Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Thursday they want to meet him and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria, news wires reported.

European Union finance ministers added last Tuesday Panama, the Seychelles, the Cayman Islands and Palau to the EU's blacklist of tax havens, and gave Turkey more time to avoid being listed, news wires reported. The list, which was set up in 2017 after revelations of widespread tax evasion and avoidance schemes, now includes 12 jurisdictions.

The European Union will launch a new naval and air mission in the eastern Mediterranean to stop more weapons reaching the warring factions in Libya, foreign ministers agreed on Monday, after Austria lifted its veto, news wires reported.

European Council president Charles Michel met on Sunday with leaders of the six Western Balkan nations seeking to join the EU for talks ahead of a key summit in Zagreb in May, news wires reported. “I look forward to a frank, intense and open discussion,” Michel said before the meeting began.

A number of European Union countries are still blocking any move to resume a naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea over concerns that it might encourage migrants to set out from Libya in search of better lives in Europe, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

Bombings and other attacks on civilians in north-west Syria must stop, says a Joint Statement issued on Thursday by HR/VP Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic on the situation in Idlib, Syria. The EU urges all parties to the conflict to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to people in need of assistance and to respect the rules and obligations of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.

The European Union rejected on Tuesday parts of the new US peace plan for the Middle East, saying it has broken with “internationally agreed parameters”, and any Israeli annexation of Palestinian land would be subject to challenge. President Donald Trump’s plan, announced last week, was warmly welcomed by Israel and rejected outright by the Palestinians.