Balkans

Six Balkan defence ministers, minus Serbia’s, meeting in Kosovo, have pledged to work closer together on tackling regional stability. Defence Ministers from Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo meeting in Peja, Kosovo, agreed on Friday to boost cooperation on regional security issues.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it was up to Greece to decide whether it should stay in the euro area or not and not to the authorities in the monetary union. “We would like them to stay… in the end it depends on them,” he said. He added …

The European Commission (EC) has ordered an action plan to be worked out in case Greece leaves the euro area. The issue has been discussed during the G20 summit in Cannes in the frames of informal consultations. “The situation in the euro area has drastically changed after the decision to …

The two-day meeting of the Macedonia-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee will be completed with Friday’s adoption of the final recommendations. Macedonia should get a date for opening of the EU-accession talks and its integration processes must not be held

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s government will face a vote of confidence in parliament on Friday evening. The prime minister has called for a “consensus government” to pull the debt-wracked country out of the crisis and implement the terms of a controversial EU bailout plan. Ahead of the crucial vote …

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek is to visit Belgrade on Thursday. In the frames of the visit Buzek will meet with state leaders and will make an address at the Serbian parliament.

France and Germany plan to block the start of Montenegro’s EU membership talks, Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti writes, citing an unofficial document. According to the newspaper Paris and Berlin made a decision not to allow the negotiations to kick off at the summit in December and to set new requirements before …

Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou has given his principle agreement to a coalition government, but he does not plan to resign, the Greek national television reported, citing government sources.

CoE Political Affairs Committee Rapporteur on Kosovo Committee Bjorn von Sydow met in Kosovska Mitrovica with heads of four Serb municipalities in the north. The meeting on Wednesday focused on the situation on the ground, issues related to the return of property, internally displaced persons and Kosovska Mitrovica’s court, Sydow …

European Parliament (EP) President Jerzy Buzek on Thursday called for a resumption of the Belgrade-Priština dialogue. Addressing Serbian MPs, he said it was in Serbia’s interest to advance its efforts to normalize relations with Priština.