Crews working on the tunnel of the new highway connecting Albania and Kosovo completed work on Sunday, inaugurating the breakthrough with a celebration ceremony attended by Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. The 5.6-kilometre tunnel is part of the Rreshen-Kalimash road – one of the …

Any compromise between Skopje and Athens on the “name” issue will have to be approved by the people of Macedonia via a referendum, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski reiterated on Sunday. Gruevski, who is also head of the largest ruling party, the centre-right VMRO DPMNE, made his statement during a …

US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg on Thursday urged Macedonia and Greece to find a creative solution to their ongoing name dispute. In an interview with the Macedonian edition of Voice of America, Hillary Clinton’s deputy pledged US help toward finding a resolution to the dispute. “We shall work …

Germany’s lower house of parliament approved a plan yesterday to extend the presence of troops in Kosovo for an additional 12 months. Deputies arguing in favour of the Kosovo troop extension said that although the situation in Kosovo had stabilized, it remained fragile. Many Western countries have begun to cut …

About 31 percent of Muslims in the European Union feel they were discriminated against in 2008, according to an EU survey of 23,500 members of ethnic minorities and migrant communities published on Thursday. Ten percent of Muslims who experienced prejudice believed this was solely due to their religious beliefs, while …

Georgia’s influential Orthodox church called on Thursday for snap elections or immediate dialogue to end an “explosive” stalemate between the opposition and President Mikheil Saakashvili. The statement’s recognition of elections as a potential way out will give the opposition new heart after seven weeks of street protests demanding Saakashvili resign …

he prosecution of The Hague’s international war crimes tribunal will not file an appeal to the not guilty verdict in the case of former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, who was tried for war crimes in Kosovo in the first half of 1999, Belgrade’s daily ‘Vecernje novosti’ cited a statement by …

Moldova’s parliament postponed from Thursday a final ballot to elect a president, a vote outgoing Communist President Vladimir Voronin hopes will enable him to hold on to the reins of power. Voronin, who intends to wield authority in his new job as speaker of parliament, proposed the postponement to June …

BRUSSELS, Belgium The foreign ministers of Croatia and Slovenia briefed EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on Wednesday (May 27th) on their responses to his latest proposal for resolving their longstanding border dispute. Rehn welcomed the commitment of both countries to assist with the process, said his spokeswoman, Krisztina Nagy.

NICOSIA, Cyprus Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou said on Wednesday (May 27th) that UN forces in the country, known as UNFICYP, are still necessary despite the ongoing reunification talks between leaders of the two communities on the divided island. The forces, deployed in 1964, consist of over 900 UN staff based …