Balkan News

BULGARIA Bulgaria’s Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov has rejected as untrue media reports that talks were to be held with Arab investors interested in the country’s Belene nuclear power station project. On August 30 2009, quoting a report by a Kuwaiti news agency that interviewed Traikov, Bulgarian newspaper Standart …

SERBIA The EU is currently not disposed to further enlargement, says Erhard Busek, the special coordinator for the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. “It’s very thankless to predict the speed of Serbia’s European integration, or that of the other countries in the region,” the Austrian politician told daily Večernje …

BiH Parties from the Bosnian Federation have condemned Serbian President Boris Tadić’s meeting with Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović. Amir Zurkić from the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) said that Tadić’s meeting with the leaders of the Union of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina …

BiH International High Representative to Bosnia Valentin Inzko has asked Slovenia to mediate in the EU for liberalization of the visa regime for Sarajevo. “Slovenia is the only country in the EU that has experience in Bosnia-Herzegovina, they lived together in the same country,” said Inzko, adding that, in that …

MACEDONIA, GREECE Greece has toughened its stance in the dispute over Macedonia’s name, making it more likely to block Macedonia’s EU entry bid, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said. Milososki made the remarks in an interview for Reuters on the sidelines of a regional security conference in Slovenia. Greece had …

BiH It’s hard to expect quick progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) towards EU, while the country’s progress towards NATO is more certain, senior official said. The Chairman of BiH collective presidency, Zeljko Komsuc, made the remarks, adding that Sarajevo must improve the cooperation with neighboring countries. BiH’s main problem …

ALBANIA Socialist Party MPs will boycott the Albanian parliament, party leader Edi Rama said one day after the extraordinary congress, Makfax correspondent reported. The decision to boycott parliament is in line with the Resolution adopted at the party congress, according to which, the Socialist Party does not recognize the results …

BiH A leading Bosnian opposition movement, the Social Democratic Party, SDP, warns that, by further escalating the current political crisis, Bosnia’s ruling parties are leading the country to the brink of a new war. The warning comes after fresh political quarrels and tensions paralysed the work of the government of …

CROATIA The foreign ministers of Croatia and Slovenia say further progress has been made in solving their countries’ grinding border dispute, DPA reports. Speaking after talks on Sunday in the Slovenian resort of Bled, Croatian Foreign Minister Davor Jandrokovic and his Slovenian counterpart Samuel Zbogar said they had discussed “major …

ALBANIA Albania’s President Bamir Topi decreed on Monday that the new parliament will convene on September 7, despite ongoing ructions concerning the contested June 28 parliamentary elections. After the new parliament takes its seats, the president is expected to mandate the Democratic Party, PD, of Prime Minister Sali Berisha to …