The Netherlands is firm on vetoing Bulgaria’s and Romania’s Schengen entry if there is a vote on the matter, according to Gerd Leers, Dutch Minister of Immigration and Asylum Affairs. Leers has spoken Tuesday, before the last for 2011 meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA). According to …

A Russian convoy of about 20 trucks transporting humanitarian aid to Serbs in northern Kosovo has been stopped and checked on the Kosovo-Serbia border at Jarinje. European police and customs officers in Kosovo stopped a convoy of about 20 trucks allegedly transporting humanitarian aid from Russia to the Serbs of …

Minister of Agriculture and Trade Dušan Petrović says Serbia “will not back down from Resolution 1244” when it comes to regional representation of Kosovo. The government believes this is a legitimate position, he said on Tuesday in Belgrade.

Joint Bulgarian-Romanian police units are starting patrols in the largest Bulgarian Black Sea resort Bansko as of December 13, the Interior Ministry announced. The joint patrols are stipulated under an agreement between the police authorities of

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday addressed Turkey’s bid to join the EU by saying that the organization “must first unite the European family”. “Removing reservations” toward Turkey’s European perspective would not make Europe’s tasks easier in the current crisis, he was quoted as saying.

The potential accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Agreement may not be discussed during the upcoming Justice and Home Affairs Council sitting, according to a high-level EU diplomat.

Serbian President Boris Tadić told Italian journalists on Monday in Trieste that he hopes Serbia will become a candidate for EU membership in March. But that even if the decision is postponed once again, said he, the country will not give up on its pro-European orientation.

Experts teams from the two sides will meet in Brussels to talk about implementation of the border management deal that they reached on December 2. The negotiating teams are set to meet once more before year’s end to flesh out the

Serbs in northern Kosovo removed a barricade this morning to let through a convoy of Russian humanitarian aid enter northern Kosovo. The barricade was located in front of the Jarnje administrative line checkpoint, in the area that’s part of central Serbia.

As Brussels is encouraging Belgrade to resolve issues with Kosovo in order to get EU candidacy in March, Serbian opposition parties are calling the government to resign. EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele has told Belgrade that the European Commission will help Serbia on its integration path in any way it …