Content about President

The Georgian news agency Грузия Onlinereported on 22 May that the Bulgarian President, Rosen Plevneliev, and his Georgian counterpart, Miheil Saakashvili, agreed to exchange official visits in near future.

According to the disseminated information, the two state officials met during the NATO summit in Chicago and discussed a few ‘common grounds’.

Russia’s LUKoil, which is the third private oil company by proven hydrocarbon reserves in the world, intends to further expand its presence at the Caspian region. LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov and Kazakhstan's national company KazMunayGas CEO Lyazzat Kiinov signed a Memorandum of Understanding which sets the basis for co-operation of Russian companies in studying of geological-geophysical data of free unlicensed onshore and offshore sites in Kazakhstan.

PARIS – When François Hollande, fresh from his election as France’s next president, was asked by a journalist which language he would use when he meets US President Barack Obama for the first time, his answer was revealing. “I speak English more fluently than the former president,” the Socialist leader insisted, referring to the outgoing Nicolas Sarkozy. “But a French president must speak French!”

The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) elected, on early morning of 21 May, a new leadership and took a decisive step towards the rightist segment of the political spectrum and in a symbolic way, by returning a bust of the former president Franjo Tudjman, reverted the party back to 1990s.

The interim President of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Sergey Stanishev, will continue to lead the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) after being re-elected as chairman for the third time gaining over 77% of the votes. His main opponent for the leadership post of the Bulgarian Left was former President Georgi Parvanov who, subsequently, withdrew his candidature.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko have agreed to jointly battle efforts to use human rights issues for exerting political pressure, the Belarusian president's press office said.

"The parties shall provide mutual assistance on international platforms on the human rights issue, jointly counter attempts to use the issue of human rights as a mechanism of political pressure," the Belarusian and Kazakh presidents said in a statement.

Last week, on Europe Day, when the eurocrats and the hangers on mark the glory of our eternal, precious union, Herman Van Rompuy announced that the financial crisis was essentially over and everyone would be back in growth by the end of the year.

I said at the time that history has not been kind to European leaders who say ‘it’ll all be over by Christmas’. It only took a few days for history to slap the Council President in the face, although there is no sign that reality has in any way impacted on our Chief Monk. 

The second round of Serbian presidential elections will take place on 20 May and the two contenders – the incumbent president Boris Tadić and the opposition leader Tomislav Nikolić – faced each other in a televised debate on 16 May.

Italian investors are likely to receive a welcome message from UAE to take their initiatives to the Middle Eastern country. The newly elected President of the Italian Business Council in Abu Dhabi, Alberto Nencha, last week announced that his efforts would remain focused on bringing Italian companies to the UAE as also on encouraging UAE companies to find suitable investment scope in Italy. 

European Parliament president Martin Schulz, who has expressed himself in favour of Greece's stay in the eurozone, is visiting the nation's capital on 18 May.

From Athens, via his iPhone, Schulz tweeted: "In Europe we talk a lot about Greece, but not enough with the Greeks. This is why I'm in Athens today-to talk with and listen to the Greeks." 

Schulz also has warned against any Greek exit from the eurozone, saying the country's economy could collapse within days if it abandoned the single currency.  

The retiring president reminded his successor of the 'look but don't touch' rule.

With Alexis Tsipras, the young leader of Greek left wing party SYRIZA, predicted to win the next election, insisting on his electoral rhetoric that his country should stop paying its creditors if the Eurozone cuts Greece off the agreed soft loans life line, it was not a surprise that stock markets in Europe and New York keep losing ground, and the G8 Summit which meets on 18 and 19 May in Camp David has Greece as its main item on the agenda.