TURKEY In the wake of the second round of talks between Turkish Cyprus and Greek Cyprus that are due to resume on Sept. 3, Turkish Cyprus President Mehmet Ali Talat said the possibility of the division on the island to be permanent was getting stronger. “The talks cannot go on …

MACEDONIA, GREECE Greece has toughened its stance in the dispute over Macedonia’s name, making it more likely to block Macedonia’s EU entry bid, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said. Milososki made the remarks in an interview for Reuters on the sidelines of a regional security conference in Slovenia. Greece had …

BiH It’s hard to expect quick progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) towards EU, while the country’s progress towards NATO is more certain, senior official said. The Chairman of BiH collective presidency, Zeljko Komsuc, made the remarks, adding that Sarajevo must improve the cooperation with neighboring countries. BiH’s main problem …

ALBANIA Socialist Party MPs will boycott the Albanian parliament, party leader Edi Rama said one day after the extraordinary congress, Makfax correspondent reported. The decision to boycott parliament is in line with the Resolution adopted at the party congress, according to which, the Socialist Party does not recognize the results …

GEORGIA Georgian Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze will visit Armenia on Sep.4-5. The visit will take place as a part of the bilateral agreement, Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Department, David Jalaganiya, said at the traditional Monday briefing on Aug.31. Vashadze will meet with his Armenian counterpart, Edvard Nalbandyan during …

GEORGIA The negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Georgia on visa facilitation and readmission are successful, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister, David Jalaganiya said at a traditional meeting on Aug. 31. He said during the third round of the talks, held last week in Brussels, the parties agreed texts for …

BiH A leading Bosnian opposition movement, the Social Democratic Party, SDP, warns that, by further escalating the current political crisis, Bosnia’s ruling parties are leading the country to the brink of a new war. The warning comes after fresh political quarrels and tensions paralysed the work of the government of …

CROATIA The foreign ministers of Croatia and Slovenia say further progress has been made in solving their countries’ grinding border dispute, DPA reports. Speaking after talks on Sunday in the Slovenian resort of Bled, Croatian Foreign Minister Davor Jandrokovic and his Slovenian counterpart Samuel Zbogar said they had discussed “major …

ALBANIA Albania’s President Bamir Topi decreed on Monday that the new parliament will convene on September 7, despite ongoing ructions concerning the contested June 28 parliamentary elections. After the new parliament takes its seats, the president is expected to mandate the Democratic Party, PD, of Prime Minister Sali Berisha to …

SERBIA UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres will meet with Serbian senior officials to discuss the refugee problem in Serbia and the region. Before arriving to Belgrade, Guterres was in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he said that it would be ideal if all of the open questions regarding refugees …