Balkan News

The 16th Summit of Central and East European Heads of State, featuring 14 presidents, is getting under way in Novi Sad today. Three-day summit will cover issues related to overcoming of 3 E challenges – economy, energy and European integration. Last year’s summitt was held in Ohrid, Macedonia.

LUXEMBOURG EU foreign ministers gave Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro the green light for visa liberalisation on Monday (June 15th). “The ministers encouraged the European Commission [EC] to launch a procedure to scrap visa requirements for compliant countries with a view of achieving a visa-free regime, ideally by the end of …

PRISTINA, Kosovo The former UN envoy for Kosovo status talks, Martti Ahtisaari, received a warm welcome in Pristina on Monday (June 15th), the first anniversary of Kosovo’s constitution.”Kosovo’s independence is irreversible and this is evident from all the recognitions which continue to come from all around the world,” Ahtisaari said. 

The activation of a new safeguard clause regarding Bulgaria and Romania has been requested by the Netherlands’ Minister of European Affairs, Frans Timmermans, Romanian news agency NewsIn reports Wednesday, quoting his open letter. According to Timmermans, the implementation of the clause must happen with the publishing of the new EU …

Phone lines are melting between EU and US diplomats as countries around the world hunt for a solution to the latest Bosnian Serb challenge. According to media reports, a group of diplomats led by the US and UK have been increasing pressure on the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. …

Cyprus’ Defence Minister, Costas Papacostas, told reporters in Belgrade yesterday that his country will never recognise Kosovo’s independence. “This is the consistent stand of the Republic of Cyprus and one that we advocate in the European Union,” Papacostas said at a news conference in Belgrade after formal meetings with Serbian …

Convicted war criminals in the Hague could serve their sentences out in Slovenia. Hague Tribunal President Patrick Robinson opened the subject for discussion with Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk in Ljubljana. They met to finalise plans for phasing out the court’s work and close all cases by the end of 2013. …

Albania has made huge progress despite missing targets to qualify EU visa-free status by the end of the year, according to the country’s foreign minister. “The commission has recognized that Albania is progressing at full speed toward the government’s major goal, lifting visa restrictions within 12 months,” said foreign minister …

Qualifying countries in the Western Balkans could have visa-free status across the EU by the end of the year. The EU Council of Ministers meeting in Luxembourg have green-lighted the European Commission’s scheme of removing visa restrictions for countries in the Western Balkans who meet their criteria.

While the ”name” referendum is a legitimate idea, Macedonia’s leaders should focus on making the undisputed high NATO and EU approval in the country a dream come true, the United States ambassador to Macedonia said. The US ambassador to Macedonia urged its leaders to focus more on entrance into NATO …