Balkan News

Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos said on Friday (January 8th) that Spain will continue talks on the EU accession of Balkan countries. Moratinos, who will preside over the European Foreign Policy Council over the next six months said that talks with Croatia will continue. Four more chapters in Turkey’s EU accession …

The European Commission (EC) announced on Friday (January 8th) that Albania has requested activation of the European Civil Protections Mechanism to help it cope with floods caused by torrential rains and melting snows. The mechanism was activated late Thursday, the EC said in a statement. Albania has requested boats and …

The Bulgarian official, who caused an uproar after threatening to block Turkey’s application to join the European Union unless it pays out billions of euros in compensation for displaced people, has been suspected to speak for the whole government. “Bozhidar Dimitrov’s statement is a diplomatic gaffe, but it is hardly …

Republic of Srpska (RS) Milorad Dodik said that a referendum will be held in the first half of 2010 on support for the Dayton Agreement. He said that the RS government is working on a referendum law for asking the people of the entity “do you support the Dayton Agreement …

EU senior officials for foreign policies and enlargement, Catherine Ashton and Stefan Fule, said that the integration of the Western Balkans must be supported. Ashton, who is the EU official for EU foreign and security policies, and Fule, the European Commissioner for policies towards new member-states and cooperation with Eastern …

Serbian President Boris Tadić said that even though a majority of the public won’t support it, the parliament must adopt a resolution condemning the Srebrenica crimes. “Politicians are the ones who must be capable of taking responsibility for such a political decision as well, because the citizens vote for them in …

Deputy foreign ministers of Greece Dimitris Drutsas and Bulgarian Marin Raykov will sign an agreement for the operation of Zlatograd-Termes border chewckpoint. Drutsas and Raikov will sign the document in the building of the Greek Foreign Ministry. Working lunch will follow. In late October 2009 the prime ministers of both …

Exit polls from Croatia’s presidential election run-off suggest that Social Democrat Ivo Josipovic is in the lead. He won December’s vote but failed to secure an outright majority, prompting a second round against challenger Milan Bandic, the mayor of Zagreb.

Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that he does not see a reason for his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadić to be angry over his visit to Kosovo. “I would have supported him coming with me here and meeting with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and the citizens that welcomed us whole-heartedly,” Mesić …

Instead of partly contra-productive and declarative support for future Western Balkans EU membership, EU should set a time framework for the Western Balkans’ EU entry, Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar said. He added that the region had took great efforts and made certain progress since the summit in Zagreb and …