Balkans

(WASHINGTON) — The United States is taking another step toward getting Albania and Croatia — both isolated behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War — folded into the NATO alliance.

As a member of the European Union and NATO, Bulgaria supports Albania’s European and Euro-Atlantic prospect, both politically as well as from its experience in integration processes, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said Thursday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Thursday new clashes may break out in the Caucasus region if the European Union (EU) observers fail to function as security guarantors.

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic signed here on Thursday, the Charter of Regional Cooperation in South-Eastern Europe, in the present of his Romanian and Moldovan counterparts.

A  Croatian publisher and his colleague were killed in a car bomb Thursday evening in the center of the capital Zagreb, electronic media reported.

Poland supports EU enlargement with the Balkans, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Thursday after a meeting with EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn.

Macedonia’s parliament has adopted a motion approving a constitutional amendment to the country’s presidential election rules, according to news reports reaching here Thursday.

The Croation prime minister has pledged to mobilise the power of the state to combat terrorists and criminals after a bomb attack that killed a renowned investigative journalist and one of his colleagues.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Two of Serbia’s closest neighbors are expected to move toward recognizing Kosovo on Thursday, a blow to Belgrade’s efforts to counter the secession of its former province.

The UN’s decision to refer the issue of Kosovo’s status to the International Court of Justice has met with dismay in Pristina, which declared independence earlier this year.