Balkans

The European Commission on Tuesday for the first time implied that Montenegro probably would not get a date for the start of the accession talks on December 9. The European Council should make a decision on December 9.

Time is running out for Bosnia to agree on changes to the constitution meeting objections from the European Court of Human Rights. A November 30 deadline is fast approaching for Bosnia and Herzegovina to implement a 2009 European Court of Human Rights decision on eligibility for high office.

Construction on the Bulgaria-Turkey gas interconnection could start as early as next year, Bulgarian Minister for Economy, Energy and Tourism Traicho Traikov has said. Minister Traikov was speaking after an energy conference in Sofia today.

As tensions and sporadic clashes continue in Serb-run northern Kosovo, the Kosovo and Serbian governments are set to return to the negotiating table in Brussels on Wednesday. Teams from Belgrade and Pristina have travelled to Brussels for the eighth round of EU-mediated talks, where they are to discuss border management, …

Constitutional Court orders release of 89-year-old former interior minister, detained over killings that took place in 1945. Boljkovac was released from custody on Tuesday evening after the court upheld an appeal from Boljkovac’s attorney, Anto Nobilo.

The EU summit on December 9 will discuss Bulgaria and Romania’s Schengen bid. In September the Netherlands and Finland blocked the two countries’ entry into the passport-free Schengen Area. Technically both Romania and Bulgaria are fit to join, but the Netherlands and Finland imposed a veto over corruption issues in …

The UN Security Council will hold a session on Kosovo and Metohija in New York on Tuesday; it will be attended by Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić. The Security Council will meet to hear a regular quarterly update on the situation in Kosovo from the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In …

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel on Sunday to Athens, where he will deliver symbolically important support to Greece’s new Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. He will also meet with President Karolos Papoulias and the leaders of the two largest Greek political parties. Biden is expected to discuss Cyprus and …

At least 25 NATO soldiers have been injured in the last 24 hours in clashes with Serbs in northern Kosovo after peacekeepers moved in to take down barricades blocking roads. The violent confrontations have raised fears that tensions are spinning out of control in the Serb-run enclave on the border …

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has written to his recently elected Greek counterpart, Lucas Papademos, urging him to lift the three-year-long Greek blockade of Macedonia’s EU accession talks.