Balkans

Opposition and government point fingers after the EU Council of Ministers on Tuesday said Albania had made little progress towards membership. Albania’s government has blamed the Socialist-led opposition

Montenegrins hope they will get a date for a start to EU membership talks at the EU leaders’ summit on December 9. “We hope the European Council will follow the recommendation of the European

Greece has not received an official notice from Sofia about its decision to give up on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project, said Greek Foreign Ministry spokesperson Grigoris Delavekouras.

Berlin appears to be softened its position on Serbia’s EU candidacy. However, Germany still expects progress in the talks between Belgrade and Pristina. It is possible for Berlin to back giving Serbia’s a status of EU member state candidate. One of the conditions for this to happen is lifting the …

Bulgaria’s Finance Minister says his country is pulling out of a pipeline deal to carry Russian oil through his country to Greece. Simeon Dyankov said Wednesday, December 6, the government has

Albania will only be able to move forward towards EU membership when it starts showing more progress on its reform agenda, the Council of Ministers underlined on Tuesday. “Albania has made limited progress in meeting the political criteria for membership

Dialogue between the European Commission and Kosovo on visa liberalisation may start by the beginning of 2012. The European Commission in October pledged to instigate the process by the end of 2011, but this may now be moved to January 2012. In its Progress Report for Kosovo, published in October, …

After the International Court of Justice declared that Greece broke a UN agreement by blocking Macedonia’s membership of NATO, Athens says it will not change its course. Greek leaders have made it clear that Athens does not plan to radically change its policy towards Macedonia as a result of the …

Foreign ministers of the EU member states will hold a debate on EU enlargement on Monday in Brussels. During it, they will formulate a decision on Serbia’s candidacy, and a date for start of the accession talks with Montenegro. The final decision regarding the matter should be reached by EU …

The United States will support Greece in these difficult times, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told reporters ahead of a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos today, without spelling out any concrete help.