TIRANA, Albania
Prime Minister Sali Berisha on Tuesday (April 28th) officially submitted Albania’s application for EU candidate status to the current Union president, the Czech Republic. During a ceremony in Prague, Berisha described it as “a dream come true”.

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday (April 28th) backed the right of Greek Cypriots to reclaim property in northern Cyprus that they abandoned during the 1974 Turkish military intervention. Foreigners later bought the abandoned property.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)
The head of the European Parliament delegation for Southeast Europe, Doris Pack, said on Tuesday (April 28th) the situation in BiH is more serious than she thought. During her visit, Pack said “I’ve been monitoring Bosnia for a long time, and it’s now worse than before.

STRASBOURG, France
Despite a period of turbulent transition, Serbia is moving forward and making progress on its road to EU integration, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) concluded on Tuesday (April 28th).

BELGRADE, Serbia
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic announced on Tuesday (April 28th) that Serbia will open a trio of new consulates in Montenegro, the first step to normalise relations between the two countries since Podgorica recognised Kosovo.

PRISTINA, Kosovo
Serbs in Mitrovica and KFOR commanders agreed on Tuesday (April 28th) that peacekeeping troops blocking the roads to the Brdjani district will withdraw. KFOR personnel will leave, while Serbs and Albanians, involved in sporadic clashes since Friday, will be able to return to their homes.

ZAGREB, Croatia
Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic asked foreign donors Tuesday (April 28th) to help the country finance projects aimed at reforming the judiciary, a key precondition for eventual EU accession.
Presenting projects worth about 42m euros through 2012, Simonovic asked the donors to help reduce the number of local courts by 40%, cut the number of court [...]

BUCHAREST, Romania
Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu says he assured EU officials that Romania has no plans to grant mass citizenship to Moldovans. Returning on Tuesday (April 28th) from a meeting of the EU’s General Affairs and External Relations Council in Luxembourg, Diaconescu said Bucharest has guaranteed a case-by-case assessment in granting citizenship to foreigners.

MOSCOW
Chairman of the State Duma committee on international affairs Konstantin Kosachev said on Wednesday PACE insistence to politicize the situation related to South Ossetia and Georgia in its resolution on humanitarian issues was erroneous.
He also told Vesti TV channel PACE is taking no concrete action and is only observing the situation. 

MOSCOW
Russia will help South Ossetia and Abkhazia to protect their borders against a feared new Georgian attack that Tbilisi may be heartened to launch after a NATO exercise next month.
On Thursday Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his counterparts from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Eduard Kokoity and Sergei Bagapsh, will sign an agreement on joint efforts [...]

CHISINAU
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said on Thursday the European Union was raising an “iron curtain” against his citizens by allowing them to freely travel in Europe only with Romanian passports. 

Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev’s delayed meeting with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev took place late Tuesday in the Barbihka residence near Moscow.
The half-hour meeting took place after the two delegations from Russia and Bulgaria had finished day long talks in Moscow. Medvedev informed Stanishev that he was aware of the success of the talks stating, “The [...]

Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov said Wednesday the Belene Nuclear Power Plant could be build with loans from Russia, if necessary.
“It is not very easy to find credits for such a large-scale project as our second nuclear power plant in times of global financial crisis. We should not exclude the Russian side as a possible source [...]

The new US administration’s first one hundred day anniversary – coinciding with still unconfirmed news that
Vice-President Joe Biden will visit the Balkans in May – has been greeted with mixed feelings and still great expectations among the countries in the region.
“Biden’s visit will above all be a good opportunity for us to authentically introduce ourselves [...]

Outgoing Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski has warned that while a solution to his country’s long standing spat over its name with Greece may not be popular, a deal is essential and will bring long term positive results.
Drawing a parallel with the Ohrid agreement of 2001 which ended the armed crisis between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians [...]

Albania’s government flatly rejected reports by local media on Wednesday that during a recent meeting between Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his Greek counterpart Costas Karamanlis Albania ceded part of its territorial waters to Athens.
The two leaders signed an agreement on Monday, which has not yet been made public. However, local media have published reports [...]

Kosovo will be included in European visa liberalisation if it meets the necessary conditions, the vice-president of the European Commission said on Tuesday.
Jacques Barrot said Kosovo would be treated like other Balkan countries, during a press conference which closed a two-day conference called Building Migration Partnerships.
“Kosovo, like the other countries, needs to meet the conditions [...]

Government pressure against the country’s Constitutional Court must stop as it jeopardizes Macedonia’s progress towards the EU, political commentators cited in local media warn.
They say that by attacking the latest court’s ruling to uphold a ban on religious teaching in high schools, the government led by the right from centre VMRO DPMNE party is interfering [...]

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says that Holland is showing signs of softening its position on Serbian cooperation with the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
In an interview with the Belgrade daily Novosti, Frattini said that the fact that Holland has accepted a proposal by the Tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz to visit Serbia in [...]

President Georgi Parvanov will issue a decree scheduling parliamentary elections for Bulgaria for July 5, his office said on Tuesday after Purvanov held consultations with all political parties represented in the current parliament.
All but one of the parties in parliament agree on the date. The right-wing party in opposition, the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, [...]

A spat between Vojvodina deputies and Serbia’s Finance Minister threatens to derail parliamentary adoption of a rebalanced budget.
Deputies are scheduled to vote on the newly proposed budget on Wednesday – whose adoption is necessary in order for Serbia to curb spending in line with agreements drawn up by the IMF.
But it is now unclear whether [...]

European Commission has welcomed Albania’s application for EU membership.
“Today, Albania has reached a historical milestone marking the country’s important engagement to common European values and fundamentals”, Director General for Enlargement, Michel Leigh who was present during the ceremony.
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, officially submitted on Tuesday, the country’s application for EU candidacy status during a [...]

Kosovo is expected to join the International Monetary Fund and World Bank by June of this year, stated the country’s Minister of Economy and Finance.
In an interview for Voice of America, Minister Ahmet Shala, declared that the application process has been completed, and that membership should occur in the upcoming months.

Author: Mirza Čubro
SARAJEVO – BiH će, umjesto u novembru ove godine, prelete preko svog zračnog prostora početi naplaćivati tek u oktobru naredne godine, kazao je juče Marinko Šimunović, zamjenik direktora Direkcije za civilno zrakoplovstvo BiH (BHDCA).
“Prvobitno je planirano da preuzimanje potpune kontrole zračnog prometa preko BiH počne 1. novembra ove godine. Zbog kašnjenja u isporuci [...]

TIRANA, Albania
The government announced on Sunday (April 26th) it will submit the country’s application for EU candidate status on Tuesday. Prime Minister Sali Berisha will deliver the application to the Czech EU presidency in Prague.

PRISTINA, Kosovo
President Fatmir Sejdiu on Sunday (April 26th) appealed to Kosovo Serbs to return to their homes and to contribute to the overall development of society. “They [Serbs] will have the support of both Kosovo and international institutions.

PODGORICA, Montenegro
The country has achieved “quite impressive” results on its road to EU membership, Leopold Maurer, the head of the European Commission delegation to Podgorica, said on Sunday (April 26th). He added that while progress in the visa liberalisation process is obvious, more remains to be done.

ATHENS, Greece
The justice ministry tabled a draft law in parliament Friday (April 24th) imposing stricter sanctions on demonstrators wearing hoods or masks. The new measure is part of government efforts to fight a recent wave of street violence that has plagued the country since December 2008, when a police officer shot dead a teenager.

NICOSIA, Cyprus
Hundreds of Greek Cypriots gathered in Nicosia’s central Eleftheria Square on Saturday (April 25th) to protest the recent acquittals of ten police officers accused of brutally beating two students in December 2005. The citizen movement Alert, which vowed to continue protesting until authorities punish the officers, organised the protest.

GROZNY
About 90 Chechens living in Georgia have requested refugee status since January to allow them to return to Chechnya, the head of the Russian republic’s migration department said Tuesday.
“Our department has received about 90 applications from Georgian residents requesting visas and other documentation to return to Russia. These are mainly ethnic Chechens living in Georgia,” [...]

BUCHAREST
All measures suggested by the health ministry have been taken to prevent a possible outbreak of swine flu in Romania, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Dan Nica said on Monday after a meeting of the National Emergency Committee.
He told prefects at a videoconference that the institutions with duties in the area are applying the [...]

MOSCOW
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting here on Tuesday, devoted to the promotion of international cooperation in energy, including cooperation in the gas sector.
It was held in the context of Russia’s latest proposals to its partners in G-8, G-20, the CIS and EC. The president reported on this initiative for the first time in [...]

MOSCOW
Bulgaria’s Head of Government Sergei Stanishev is to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev here on Tuesday and is to hold talks with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The implementation of strategic joint energy projects will be the main subject of discussion at the upcoming talks.
The Kremlin press service has confirmed, “A meeting between Dmitry Medvedev [...]

American Vice President Joe Biden, will begin a diplomatic tour throughout the Balkans, to kick-off in May, media sources reported today.
According to Kosovo’s public station Radio Television Kosovo, Biden will begin his visit in Pristina, scheduled sometime between May 17 -21.
The Serbian daily, Blic, also reported a visit to Belgrade at the end of May, [...]

The Bosnian Parliament has adopted, in its first reading, a law envisaging better protection of local farmers against imported goods from neighbouring countries. If confirmed, this law could violate regional the CEFTA free trade agreement.
“Customs are being imposed on goods from Croatia and Serbia,” read the front-page title in the Banja Luka daily Nezavisne Novine [...]