Balkan News

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged the EU on Monday (March 15th) to end visa requirements for Turkish citizens. The request came during a meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, who was visiting Ankara for the first time since being elected to the post. The EU lifted visa requirements …

The Albanian government completed nine more chapters of the European Commission’s wide-ranging questionnaire Monday (March 15th), a requirement for Albania’s application for EU candidate status to be considered. This makes a total of 30 chapters completed, with five more to go. The government hopes to wrap those up by the …

European Parliament (EP) member Jelko Kacin has sent a letter to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele saying that Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has met all technical conditions for inclusion in the EU’s visa-free regime, local media reported on Monday (March 15th). Kacin suggested …

Austrian President Heinz Fischer said on Monday (March 15th) that Croatia could wrap up its EU accession talks by the end of this year and join the bloc in 2012. After talks with visiting Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipovic, Fischer stressed that this scenario would be good for both the region …

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s recently-appointed foreign policy chief noted in her ordinary report the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is getting worse.

Protests have continued in Greece as Euro zone finance ministers said they have agreed a way to help the cash-strapped country. Over recent weeks stringent government spending cuts have been urged by the EU bloc to deal with the country’s massive deficit.

“The identity is yours and it is not changing. Macedonia should point at the priorities like security, prosperity, setting up of the values and accession to the EU,” said the U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia Philip Reeker. Reeker made the statement at a public lecture is the FON University in Skopje.

We are far away from the time when the UN Mediator on the name dispute between Greece and Macedonia Matthew Nimetz will make a new proposal on the issue, said Greek deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Drucas Macedonian. In his words many countries are aware of Greek position and …

In a newly released report the OSCE mission in Kosovo claims that Kosovo courts fail to adequately justify decisions ordering detention, saying that this shortcoming breaches international legal standards and domestic law.

It would be important for the success of the planned conference in Slovenia if the Serbian president attended, says a Slovenian embassy in Belgrade official. This would be significant, Jadranka Šturm-Kocjan stated, for cooperation in the region, mutual relations and dialogues between the Western Balkans countries.