Author EUinfo Admin

he ECB’s President Mario Draghi unveiled the new €20 banknote today at the ECB’s headquarters in Frankfurt and announced that it would enter into circulation on 25 November 2015. The new note includes an innovative security feature in the form of a “portrait window” set in the hologram. When the banknote is held against the light, the window becomes transparent and reveals a portrait of the mythological figure Europa, visible on both sides of the note. The new €20 banknote, like the new €5 and €10 notes, also includes an “emerald number” and a portrait of Europa in the watermark.

The fifth post visa liberalisation report on the Western Balkans shows that more measures are necessary to maintain the integrity of the visa-free scheme and to address potential abuses of the EU asylum system. In early March, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, will be visiting Belgrade and Pristina. Serbian citizens remained the largest group of Western Balkans visa-free asylum-seekers in the EU.

The European Commission adopted the decision on a Strategic framework for the Energy Union, Vice-President Šefčovič told European Parliament, explaining that it would send a message that Europe is “serious about a fundamental energy transition.” The strategy is the most ambitious European energy project since the European Coal and Steel Community, he said.

EU High Representative Federica Mogherini in Sarajevo hailed Bosnian parliament’s vote on a declaration pledging support to country’s EU accession process, saying it was “a historic decision”, but warned that it was just a beginning and that there was a lot of work ahead.

This was a successful weekend for films supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme. Timbuktu got seven Cesar awards…

High Representative Federica Mogherini will visit Sarajevo on Monday 23 February as the country prepares to take a step forward on its EU integration path. During her visit Mogherini will meet the members of the BiH Presidency and the leadership of both houses of the state level Parliament. She will then, upon invitation of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, attend and address a joint session of both Houses of the Parliament.