The European Commission's new West Balkans strategy means well - but it will need serious commitment to respecting the rule of law, not just paying attention when violence flares.

It is crucial that the EU strategy and the Sofia summit provide the same accession perspective to all six Western Balkan countries, Kosovo president's top official says.

Just as Bulgaria begins its six-month presidency of the EU, thousands of neo-Nazis will be marching in the streets of the capital, Sofia. This homage to Hristo Lukov, responsible for 11,300 Jewish deaths, must be banned.

The Bulgarian EU presidency may delay efforts to tackle the thorny issue of refugee quotas until some easier points in a key EU asylum reform proposal are sorted out.

Corruption, organised crime, lack of foreign investment and digital skills make Bulgaria an unlikely standard bearer for the EU during its presidency. But perhaps Sofia can pull it off.

Finance ministers removed eight entities from the tax havens blacklist, while ruling out more transparency or sanctions - prompting criticism from tax-campaigning NGOs such as Oxfam.

A dispute between the government and the president over an anti-corruption law has put the spotlight on one of the Bulgaria's main problems - just as it is trying to showcase its economic and social progress.

The EU Commission's 2025 deadline for enlargement is 'realistic' and necessary for EU stability and influence, but the region's countries will have to deliver.

Bulgaria joining the single currency "will not result in any additional risk for the euro system", its finance minister said. The country's lev currency has been pegged to the euro since 1997, making it already highly dependent on ECB policy.

The EU 'should not get to the point' of deciding whether to impose sanctions on Poland over the rule of law, said Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borisov.

Bulgaria is starting its six-month EU presidency amid attempts to shake off issues of corruption and poor press freedoms. Earlier this week, Bulgaria's president vetoed an anti-graft bill, claiming it was too weak.

Former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said EU would be wrong to roll out red carpet in Brussels for Austrian ministers who were "heirs of Nazism".

The EU is reforming a number of internal asylum laws, but lack of staff, politics, and the sheer complexity of the bills means deadlines - like those announced by EU council chief Tusk - are likely to come and go.

Non-personal data should be allowed to cross EU borders without restrictions, with an exemption for security reasons, diplomats meeting in the Council of the EU have agreed.