Following a Monday meeting in New York, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn concluded that it was possible for Croatia to finish EU accession negotiations by the end of the year. “We discussed all aspects of the negotiations with the EU and we remain optimists …

Serbia and Turkey have signed a bilateral economic free trade agreement at the annual economic summit in Istanbul, which will take effect on January 1, 2010. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic and Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan signed a free trade …

A majority of Turks support their government’s bid to join the European Union, but most say the bloc views it with prejudice because Turkey is a Muslim nation, a new study showed. Three out of four Turks believe the EU is trying to divide Turkey and 81 percent believe the …

NICOSIA, Cyprus Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said on Friday (May 29th) chances are “quite high” for settling the Cyprus problem by the end of this year or early next. In an interview with Reuters, however, he warned that the current process may be the last chance to reunify …

TIRANA, Albania Interior Minister Bujar Nishani says Albania has produced 1 million new electronic ID cards since January and that the rest will be in the hands of citizens before they need them to vote in the June 28th parliamentary elections. Nishani said on Sunday (May 31st) that there is …

BRUSSELS The EU condemned Monday “parliamentary elections” took place in the South Ossetian region of Georgia on Sunday.”The EU does not accept the legality of the “elections”, nor its results,” said a statement by the current Czech EU Presidency late Monday.”The holding of such elections is illegitimate and represents a …

Romania’s Romgaz has set up a joint venture with Russia’s Gazprom for underground gas storage facilities that will boost the country’s ability to build gas stocks and could improve supplies to the European Union, the economy minister said Monday. Romgaz and Gazprom each own 50 percent of the joint venture, …

Switzerland has signed a protocol with the European Union extending the “free movement” of people under the Schengen Agreement to Romanians and Bulgarians. This means that from June 1 2009, Bulgarians and Romanians no longer require international passports. The two countries are the latest editions to the free-movement agreement, a …

A number of concerts are scheduled form May 29 to June 4 as part of the official celebration of the Year of Bulgarian Culture in Armenia. Both countries’ Ministries of Culture implement a cultural program with the participation of Bulgarian national and classical dancing ensembles, panarmenian.net reported.

Politicians in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska have started a new war with the top western envoy in the country, refusing his calls to stop challenging the country’s constitution. Despite stark warnings from the head of Bosnia’s Office of the High Representative, OHR, Valentin Inzko, Bosnian Serb parties have …