Balkans

Slovenia’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Zbogar, will take over as the EU’s leading envoy in Kosovo, while Washington has named Tracey Ann Jacobson as its new ambassador. The European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, appointed Zbogar, who has

EU mediator in the Belgrade-Priština dialogue Robert Cooper met with Belgrade team chief Borislav Stefanović on Wednesday. The main topic of their meeting was Kosovo’s regional representation.

Counicl of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) will discuss Wednesday the report on Serbia’s fulfillment of conditions arising from the CoE membership. According to the report, Serbia has met a great number of obligations and achieved considerable progress.

Greece is aiming to complete negotiations on its debt swap deal by the end of the week, the government’s spokesman said Wednesday, adding that the talks were at their “most delicate phase.” Charles Dallara, head of the Institute of International Finance — the body representing banks and other investment firms …

Bulgaria’s Cabinet approved, at a scheduled meeting on January 25 2012, a proposal to accept Schengen visas as equivalent to Bulgarian visas for short stays. This means that travellers who have Schengen visas will be

Bulgaria’s new President Rosen Plevneliev, who was officially inaugurated on Sunday, has been congratulated by his Macedonian counterpart George Ivanov in a phone conversation.

FYROM Vice Prime Minister Teuta Arifi and her Greek counterpart, Theodoros Pangalos, are to meet on Wednesday in Athens in a move to revive moribund talks on the ‘name’ dispute. The meeting of the senior politicians will be the first formal contact between officials from two countries since Greece formed …

Kosovo’s judiciary still fails to meet European and international standards, since it is not fully independent from the executive branch, a newly released OSCE report finds. The independent functioning of the judicial system in Kosovo still faces a number of shortcomings, and judges continue to

Prime Minister Igor Luksic says all segments of Montenegro’s society should be involved in the country’s EU negotiations. Luksic said that the internal consensus reached on European integration has been one of the most important successes of the state, and must be maintained as Podgorica continues its path towards membership …

Bosnia’s state prosecution has suspended an investigation into 58 people suspected of assisting Hague indictee Radovan Karadzic while he was in hiding. Karadzic, who is currently on trial at the Hague Tribunal accused of crimes against humanity and genocide in Bosnia, was in hiding in Bosnia and Serbia from 1996 …