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BRUSSELS European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday economic sanctions over Turkey's drilling off the coast of Cyprus, setting up the legal framework for travel bans and asset freezes but leaving names until a later date.

The decision, reflecting a broader deterioration in EU ties with Turkey, aims to punish Ankara for violating Cyprus' maritime economic zone by drilling off the divided island. It follows a separate decision to stop new arms sales by EU governments to Turkey over Ankara's Oct. 9 incursion into Syria.

Turkey, which is a formal candidate to join the EU, says it is operating in waters on its own continental shelf or areas where Turkish Cypriots have rights.

EU ministers said in a statement that Monday's decision: "will make it possible to sanction individuals or entities responsible for or involved in unauthorized drilling activities of hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean."

Two EU diplomats said the staggered approach gives Turkey a chance to end what the EU says are "illegal" drilling activities before any measures enter into force.

If sanctions are imposed, the asset freezes and travel bans are likely to target the Turkish military and captains of the drilling ships, the diplomats said.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 after a Turkish invasion triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup. Several peacemaking efforts have failed and the discovery of offshore resources has complicated the negotiations.

EU ties with NATO-ally Turkey have meanwhile worsened after years of stalemate on Ankara's bid to join the world's biggest trading bloc.

With Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on dissidents and his sweeping new presidential powers that the EU says lack checks and balances, many EU states say Turkey no longer meets the democratic criteria to be a candidate, let alone an EU member.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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EU Agrees Sanctions on Turkey Over Cyprus Drilling, to Add Names Later - The New York Times

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Jeremy Corbyn has refused to say whether or not he wants Britain to leave the European Union, saying its up to the public to decide.

The Labour leader told the BBCs Andrew Marr show his party will hold another referendum on Brexit if they win the General Election.

He said: Were going to put that choice to the British people, and they will make their decision.

Well negotiate within three months a credible, sensible option of Leave, and put that alongside Remain in a referendum.

He added that he wants a close relationship with the EU in the future when pressed on his personal view on whether or not the UK should leave.

Mr Corbyn said a Labour government will negotiate a sensible leave deal within three months of taking power and then voters will get the chance to decide again on Brexit.

He added: The answer is, as Ive explained to you, that we will negotiate a credible option of leaving, put that alongside Remain, and the British people would make their mind up on that basis, and we will discuss this obviously when weve concluded those initial negotiations which will start immediately we take office.

He denied suggestions he was unable to say whether or not he would prefer for the UK to be in or out.

He responded: Jeremy Corbyn can say this that we have to have a close trading relationship with Europe, we wont crash out into the arms of Donald Trump, we wont be doing sweetheart trade deals with the USA, and we wont be wrecking our National Health Service in the process as the Prime Minister is planning to do.

He announced that the partys manifesto will be published on Thursday after being pressed on the partys position on the free movement of people.

Youll have to wait until Thursday to see the wording of it, Mr Corbyn said.

Earlier on the programme, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Mr Marr he does not think it is remotely likely that the UK will leave the EU without a deal.

Mr Raab insisted the UK is not going to align ourselves to EU rules, adding: Theres going to be a negotiation, of course there are going to be compromises on all sides.

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Jeremy Corbyn refuses to say whether he wants the UK to leave the EU - Metro.co.uk

By Rachel Urbano

As Spain navigates itself through a deadlock election, it seems coalition governments have become the new normal within the European Union. Prime examples are neighboring Portugal and not too distant Italy, all within Southern Europe.

Upon the conclusion of Spains 10N elections, bringing Spaniards to the polls for the fourth time in four years, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) has won the most seats (120) followed by the Peoples Party (PP); 88, Vox; 52, United We Can (UP); 35, the Citizens Party (Cs); 10, and the More Country Party (MP); 2. An additional ten lesser known parties took a collected 43 seats among them. No party has gained enough seats to reach a majority (176 seats of the 350 in Spanish parliament) which will necessitate a coalition government. But neither the left (PSOE, UP, MP) nor the right (PP, Vox, Cs) block has enough seats to reach a majority, with 157 and 149 respectively.

Last month in Portugal, Antonio Costa was re-elected Prime Minister but his Socialist Party (PS) did not achieve the majority needed to control the Portuguese parliament (116 seats of 230). What differentiates Portugal from Spain is Costa won 108 seats putting PS just below the majority, but in an advantageous position. Rather than create an official coalition government, Costa was able to negotiate with the Left Bloc Party (BE) and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) that are similar in political leanings and won 17 and 19 seats respectively. Known for his negotiating skills, Costa was also able to emphasize that while the parties may have their divergences in certain policies, they all agree it is better for them to work together than to allow the right wing to gain control.

This agreement to work together but not in an official coalition government is referred to as the geringona or contraption. Originally criticized by Costas opponents back in 2015, it has proven to hold up and is considered a key element to the success of Portugals government. Before the October election, Costa was interviewed about the future should PS be re-elected and when asked about whether he would opt to enter a more traditional coalition government, he stated Why ruin a good friendship with a bad marriage?

This is a far different approach than that of PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez. Sanchez became Prime Minister of Spain in June of 2018 after a motion of no confidencewas placed against his predecessor Mariano Rajoy of the PP. His initial government consisted of ten ministers from the PSOE, two from the Socialists Party of Catalonia (PSC), and five independent. For the first time, women outnumbered men as leaders of the cabinet. In his first one hundred days in office, two ministers resigned after publicized scandals with fiscal and educational fraud. Catalonias desire to separate itself from Spain, the trial of Catalonias independent leaders (known as the Procs) and whether or not former dictator Francisco Francos remains would be exhumed divided the political parties, making coalition difficult.

After Spains budget failed to pass in April of 2019, Sanchez called for a snap election in which the PSOE took the most seats but fell short of the majority. Months of talks between party leaders failed to create a minority alliance, prompting the recent elections which Sanchez had hoped would get Spain out of the deadlock and put him in a better position to create a lasting government.

In contrast to both Portugal and Spain, the driving force of the Italian coalition government was initially the far right League Party, headed by former Prime Minister Matteo Salvini. He was ousted after a controversial tenure as Prime Minister, often feuding with the then deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio of the 5 Star Party. What is remarkable is the rise of the 5 star party, a populist movement started by comedian Beppe Grillo and spearheaded by Di Maio.

Touting themselves as an alternative to the bureaucracy, they gained enough seats to become second fiddle in the initial coalition. The League then gained more power aligning with the Democratic Party (PD), the center left government that had controlled Italian parliament prior to the first coalition. The rise of Spains far right Vox, while less arbitrary in scope definitely aims to shock in a manner not unlike populist 5 star. If Vox continues to gain seats it is possible they could be part of a coalition government in the next two years, if not the party at its helm.

So what is to become of these future coalition governments? Should voters and parties alike come to expect the prevalence of minority alliances? Are majorities in Parliament slowly becoming a thing of the past? Time will tell as Spain scrambles to find a way forward after the latest election. However, one thing is imminent. Party lines will need to be crossed in order to move forward and Sanchez may benefit from taking a page out of Costas playbook and agree to disagree. Maybe what Spain needs after all is not a bad marriage but a good friendship.

Rachel Urbano is an author, activist, and poet interested in languages, international relations, and politics. Particular areas of interest include Italy, LGBT+ rights, and global migrations. She resides in the Philadelphia area.

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The Rise of Coalition Governments in the European Union - Pressenza, International Press Agency

On Monday, the European Union (EU) gave official permission for the "conditional marketing authorization" of the first-ever Ebola vaccine. A pharmaceutical company, Merck, is developing the vaccine known as 'Ervebo.'

Ervebo has been approved for "individuals aged 18 years and older" and has already been used in critical situations with emergency guidelines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

RELATED: NEW EBOLA DRUG BREAKTHROUGH HAS PROMISING '90% SURVIVAL RATE'

The vaccine 'Ervebo' was first developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the U.S. Army approximately ten years ago. It was in 2014 that Merck bought the rights to develop the vaccine, following the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The E.U.'s "conditional marketing authorization" is an approval exclusively for medicine that focuses on unmet medical needs, such as Ebola.

It permits the development of medicine to move forward with less comprehensive data than is usually required, only if the benefits outweigh the risks.

Ervebo has been 100% effective during its trials in Guinea, and Merck has already offered over 250,000 doses to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Even though this news is incredibly promising, patience is still required. Merck's plan is to start manufacturing the vaccine in Germany in2020, at the start of the third quarter.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still has the vaccine under "priority review," with an answer expected next year.

The decision by the E.U. is indeed a promising one, especially given the European Commission's records that state over 11,000 people have died in West Africa since the outbreak began in 2014.

The DRC has shown a 67% fatality rate once people contract the virus, andbetween August 2018 and October 2019, there were over 3,000 confirmed cases of the virus and 2,123 documented deaths.

The Ebola crisis is not over yet and is still considered an international public health emergency.

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Ebola Vaccine Approved for the First Time Ever by the European Union - Interesting Engineering

Greece offered words of encouragement toNorth Macedonia and Albania on Thursday as the two countries' efforts to open accession talks with the European Union continueto be frustrated.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that "despite reservations'' the EU is "keeping its doors open.''

Mitsotakis said Greece wants both its neighbors in the EU and saidtheir efforts will come to fruition "at some point.''

Still hoping for a U-turn

Last month French President Emmanuel Macron led a small group of EU leaders who blocked accession talks.

"We are disappointed," North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said after meeting Mitsotakis on the sidelines of an economic forumin Thessaloniki in northern Greece.

Zaev said he had received "huge encouragement" from his Greek counterpart adding that "there is no alternative for us,"referring to North Macedonia's EU aspirations.

Both North Macedonia and Albania areEU candidate countries. However, even when accession talks begin, it can still take several years before officially joining the bloc. Negotiations withthe EU's most recently installed member state, Croatia, lasted eight years.

As well as Greece and North Macedonia, the geographic region of Macedonia extends into Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia as well as small areas of Kosovo (which you can't quite see here).

The ancient kingdom of Macedonia or Macedon was a relatively small part of the present day Greek province of Macedonia. It first expanded under King Perdiccas I, then widened to take in other areas.

After the fall of the Greek Empire, the Romans who admired Alexander used the old name Macedonia for the province encompassing much of northern Greece and the area north of it including much of the modern-day North Macedonia.

With the breakup of the Roman Empire into East and West, this region was overrun by the Slavic invasions. An entirely new province far to the east, including part of Thrace in modern-day Turkey, was named Macedonia by the Byzantine Empress Irene of Athens.

The geographic region known as Macedonia today roughly equates to the part of the Ottoman Empire known as Ottoman Vardar Macedonia. It included Greek and Slavic areas and was split into three administrative units, but the concept of Macedonia persisted. This remained the case for centuries and so this concept of what Macedonia is has stuck.

...and there's certainly a fair bit of overlap and room for confusion.

Of course, Macedonia's King Alexander the Great's realm stretched all the way to India but it would be a bit of a stretch to call that Macedonia

As if it werent complicated enough, theres another meaning of the word Macedonia. In Greece and many Latin-language-speaking countries, its also a fruit salad. The name is thought to have ben popularized at the end of the 18th century, referring to either the ethnic diversity of Alexander's vast empire or the ethnic mix of Ottoman Macedonia.

Author: Richard Connor

jsi/rt(AP, Reuters)

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Greece backs EU ambitions of North Macedonia and Albania - DW (English)