Balkan News

The Turkish Cypriot political leadership’s recent proposals on solving the Cyprus issue was unacceptable, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said Monday. “We want a solution that will end occupation and division in Cyprus, because the Cyprus issue is primarily a problem of occupation by Turkey,” Papandreou said after meeting with …

Macedonia’s President Georgi Ivanov has promised to push for a solution to his country’s long-running name dispute this year, but not at the price of ‘putting identity onto the negotiating table’. “It is regretful that due to an irrational reason, an imposed dispute, generations of Macedonian citizens are hindered on …

Head of the European Commission Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert spoke about the genocide suits filed by Serbia and Croatia. “It is up to every country individually to see how it wants to lead this process. We will encourage both countries to talk about that question, to establish dialogue again,” …

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said on Monday that 2009 was a tough year for global economy, though there were a few good moments for Macedonia. “2009 left deep scars and we want these scars healed as soon as possible. We want to put these scars behind, but we have to …

Slovenian EP reporter on Macedonia Zoran Taler have filed several amendments to the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs in Brussels. Taler seeks from the EU Council of Ministers set a date for accession talks with Macedonia in March 2010. The European Parliamentarians will discuss Taler’s amendments on January 26.

No reshuffles will be made in the Macedonian government at least not in the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), said the leader of the party Ali Ahmeti. Ahmeti noted the party is concentrated over the resolution of the name issue and this is its main priority for now. According to …

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said that he expects to have “good inter-state relations” with Serbia soon. He said that Kosovo wants these relations to be between “two independent and sovereign states.” “Kosovo is an independent and democratic state and I expect Belgrade to work to build good inter-state relations …

Slovenia stands ready to help Macedonia in finding a compromise with Greece over its name that would unblock its EU and NATO membership bids, Slovenian Prime Minister said on Sunday. During his visit to Skopje, Pahor and his host, Macedonia’s Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, confirmed good relations between both countries.

Ivo Josipovic, Croatia’s newly elected president, in an interview for Bosnian media this weekend, said it is too early to talk about withdrawing the law suit at the International Court of Justice, ICJ, against Serbia for genocide, filed in 1999. “With that suit certain goals should have been achieved. When …

Serbain President Boris Tadić says that Serbia would never support a referendum that would lead to the splitting of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Serbia will not support any act or referendum that would lead to the splitting of Bosnia, since Serbia is a guarantor of the Dayton Agreement,” Tadić old Sarajevo …