A special panel investigating Bulgaria’s communist-era police files said it will release the names of agents and collaborators who are running for a parliamentary seat in the upcoming general and European Parliament elections. “The commission will probe the past of some 4000 candidates for MPs and another 1000 MEP hopefuls,” …

Hungarian Defence Minister Imre Szekeres said Croatia and Albania will become full members of NATO at the upcoming NATO summit, and reaffirmed his full support for their integration. “In a month, Croatia and Albania will become full members of NATO and that is not only important for them, but for …

Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko, on his way back from a trip to the Serbian resort of Kapoanik, stopped to speak to journalists with some advice to Serbs beginning to feel the pinch of the current economic slowdown. “If you hope that people from Europe or America will come and give …

EU member Slovenia has blocked 12 chapters, or one-third, of Croatia`s entry negotiations. Croatia will accept the European Union’s offer to mediate in its border row with Slovenia, but it remains unclear if this will be enough to remove the Slovenian veto that has blocked Zagreb’s EU accession talks this …

Parliament gave the Socialist-led government a mandate in January to seek a permission from the EU to reopen the reactors. Bulgaria has backed down on plans to restart two Soviet-era nuclear reactors and will now focus on lobbying for more European Union compensation for the shut units, officials said on …

Serbia continues to gather fresh intelligence on its main war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic and will capture him, President Boris Tadic said on Thursday. “Every day we receive various information about Ratko Mladic and once we gather enough information we will arrest him,” Tadic told reporters. “Serbia is absolutely determined …

The Prosecutor-General`s main investigative unit said it was investigating the murder. An adviser to a deputy speaker of Russia’s parliament was found dead on Thursday in his Moscow flat with multiple stab wounds, Interfax news agency reported, citing the police. Police discovered the body of Alexei Belyaev, an advisor to …

The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has suggested that Bulgaria could receive EUR 500 M from preliminary payments through European Programs to help the country through the financial crisis, Bulgarian National Radio reported late Thursday. Barroso’s announcement came after a meeting with Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev who …

Zagreb,  – Turkey, Italy and Hungary reiterated Thursday their support of Macedonia’s accession to NATO at meetings with Defense Minister Zoran Konjanovski. At the sidelines of enlarged Southeast European Defence Ministerial of the countries from the US-Adriatic Charter in Zagreb, Konjanovski held bilateral talks with his Turkish, Hungarian counterparts Vecdi …

Albania’s finance ministry said on Thursday it would borrow 250 million euros (315 million US dollars) from two foreign banks to cover its budget deficit. The ministry said in a statement it chose Deutsche Bank and Greece’s Alpha Bank for the loan from seven bidders who offered to lend the …