Brussels - The European Union is to send a 90-strong election observation team to Lebanon ahead of polls on June 7, the EU's executive, the European Commission, announced Friday.

"I am confident that the forthcoming parliamentary elections will result in the formation of a stable government ... I hope that the presence of European observers can contribute to ensuring that the elections will take place in a transparent and credible manner," EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.

Brussels - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is "most concerned" by the recent upsurge of fighting in Sri Lanka, he told journalists in Brussels on Thursday.

"I am most concerned at the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka," Ban said on the sidelines of a conference dedicated to the piracy crisis in Somalia.

Brussels - The European Union's executive on Thursday praised the Palestinian Authority (PA) for its efforts to reform its finances and security sector in 2008 despite its battles with Israel and Hamas.

The release of the bloc's annual report on relations with the PA "is an opportunity to praise progress made by the PA Government," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.

Brussels - The European Union is to put pressure on Moldova not to demand visas from Romanian citizens following the two countries' row over Moldova's election violence, the EU's foreign affairs commissioner said Thursday.

The European Commission, the EU's executive, is "dismayed" by Moldova's decision to demand visas from Romanians, Benita Ferrero-Waldner told journalists in Brussels.

Brussels - The European Union and Ukraine could sign a new strategic deal by the end of the year, bringing Kiev and Brussels even closer on issues such as trade and travel, the EU's foreign-affairs commissioner said in Brussels on Thursday.

"If things do not slow down for political reasons, hopefully we will be done by the end of the year," Benita Ferrero-Waldner told journalists in Brussels.

Brussels/Frankfurt - A war of words erupted on Wednesday between the European Union's executive and the head of its largest member's central bank as officials accused one another of "surprising" acts and "misinformed" decisions.