Balkans

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic said that the country “has never been closer to getting a date for the start of EU accession talks”. After talks with foreign officials Mrkic said that “no one explicitly said that an agreement on Serb municipalities in Kosovo is the key precondition for that”.

Serbian officials said in Brussels last night, “either give us the community of Serb municipalities or let’s not waste any more time”. The Serbian prime minister,  Ivica Dacic, spoke after returning from the meeting at the seat of the EU, held on Monday evening. “This is about everyone’s interest in …

Former Yugoslav Army commander Nebojsa Pavkovic and deputy prime minsiter Nikola Sainovic said at their Hague Tribunal appeal that they are not guilty of murder and persecution of Kosovo Albanians during the 1999 conflict. The two have been sentenced in 2009 to 22 years of jail each for deportation, murder …

Following their private talk, presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Filip Vujanovic of Montenegro were joined by their countries` delegations for an expanded meeting. They praised development of friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Montenegro. The sides stressed the

Bulgaria’s president named on Tuesday career diplomat and former deputy foreign minister Marin Raykov as caretaker prime minister until early elections on May 12, following the resignation of the government last month. “My choice for prime minister is that of the current ambassador to France, Marin Raykov. He will also …

Turkish Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis on Tuesday stated that Nicos Anastasiades, newly elected leader of Greek Cypriot administration, had voted ‘yes’ to Kofi Annan’s Cyprus plan referendum and courageously showed his support for the resolution of the Cyprus issue and said, “We hope his new …

After Dutch scientific analysis showed that 70 per cent of Serbian milk samples were contaminated with aflatoxin, the Belgrade government announced that contaminated milk will be destroyed.About 70 per cent of milk samples from Serbia contained aflatoxin M1 in levels higher than the EU limit, while the levels of contaminant …

The seat of the Macedonian government will get its promised Baroque façade shortly after the March 24 local elections, officials have said.After several delays, the Macedonian government’s Procurements Bureau said it was about to choose from among four domestic construction firms that have offered to carry out the revamp. “We …

Berlin. European Parliament President Martin Schulz thinks that the debates over the inflow of poor immigrants from East Europe are exaggerated, Deutschlandradio reported. “There is no mass poverty migration from Romania or anywhere else,” Schulz remarked.

Economic problems in Cyprus “directly” affect struggling Greece and the traditional allies will coordinate policies ahead of a European eurozone summit later this week, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Monday.”It is our common desire to strengthen coordination as our policies are characterised by shared views,” Samaras said after …