Balkans

Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić says Serbia should not recognize the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo “even if this means not joining the EU”. “If the price is for Serbia to give up Kosovo to gain membership

The European Commission on November 21 offered more than €200 million in grant assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The funds come from the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) and were decided at a meeting on November 14 in which IPA priorities for 2012 and 2013 were set.

Germany does not plan to make a compromise about Serbia’s European integration. Berlin thinks Serbia has to meet all necessary criteria to obtain an EU candidate country status, despite some countries’ call that Belgrade should be awarded. The German diplomacy expects a resumption of the dialog with Pristina and application …

The EU-sponsored Kosovo dialogue will continue on Monday in Brussels after a break of some two months, when incidents on the administrative line stopped it. The topics of the talks between Belgrade and Priština today will be university diplomas, representation of Kosovo Albanian authorities in organization, as well as the …

Macedonia is not likely to get a starting date for EU accession negotiations as Greece blocks the move over the unsolved name dispute. According to the Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki his country will try to secure a deferred starting date at the upcoming EU Council summit, an idea that …

Bulgaria and Turkey will sign a political agreement to build a cross-border gas pipeline, thus declaring the strategic importance of this project to both states, Bulgaria’s Energy Ministry said on November 19 2011. The move was agreed at a meeting of Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Traicho Traikov

The EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule on Thursday welcomed the apparent end of a two-year political stalemate in Albania, after parliament approved two laws that required cross-party consensus. 

Greece’s new coalition government headed by Prime Minister Lukas Papademos secured enough votes to win the confidence vote in the country’s parliament on Wednesday. A total of 255 lawmakers in the country’s 300-member parliament voted in favor of the new government that was formed last week by the majority Socialists, …

Belgrade team chief Borislav Stefanović will meet with northern Kosovo Serb representatives on Thursday. They will discuss the next round of the Belgrade-Priština talks

The Security Council on Wednesday extended for another year the European Union stabilization force (EUFOR) that is tasked with ensuring that all sides continue to comply with the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina.