Balkans

Estonian diplomat Aivo Orav is the newly appointed Head of the European Union Delegation to Macedonia, Brussels announced. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton appointed Orav on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to visit Kosovo on December 19. Merkel’s visit was confirmed by Kosovan Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuci. “Merkel is to visit Kosovo on Monday, December 19, to give support to our institutions,” said Kuci.

Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has joined forces with his counterparts from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia on backing the EU integration of the Republic of Moldova.

President says militants among Kosovo Serbs want to provoke conflict and retard Serbia’s EU accession. Serbia’s President on Thursday warned that Serb extremists in Kosovo

A Russian convoy of 25 trucks transporting 300 tons of aid for Kosovo Serbs has reached its destination at Zvecan after a prolonged standoff at the Kosovo-Serbia border. Seventy-two hours after being stopped at the Kosovo-Serbia border, a Russian convoy transporting humanitarian aid for Serbs in northern Kosovo finally reached …

The new Croatian social democratic government is more likely to resolve the outstanding issue of genocide claims. An inter-governmental agreement on genocide claims between Serbia and Croatia may bring both countries

Skopje government will ask for a change of the decision of NATO and a membership in the alliance under the name of Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Macedonian representatives will present the request at the NATO meeting on January 24-25 in Brussels. The country will ask the ambassadors of …

N. Kosovo Serb leaders presented Wednesday a peace initiative to act as a temporary solution to the current crisis in the province international reps in Kosovo. The Serbs presented the initiative to KFOR, EULEX, UNMIK and OSCE at a regular meeting between the representatives of the local self-governments in northern …

German Ambassador to Serbia Wolfram Maas has stated that his country has never asked Serbia to recognize Kosovo’s independence. “We have never expected or asked for the Kosovo recognition but we do expect normalization of relations (with Kosovo) from Serbia,” he said. 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga signed the Agreement on Protection and Preservation of Certain Cultural Properties. Clinton said the U.S. was committed to the preservation of all of Kosovo’s cultural heritage.