Balkans

NATO peacekeeping troops and EULEX offcers have re-established traffic control on a makeshift bypass road erected near the Kosovo-Serbia border in Jarinje. In a joint operation conducted this morning, peacekeeping troops, known as KFOR, and EULEX officers, set up a vehicle check-point on the bypass road in Jarinje, for vehicles …

Northern Kosovo will not be discussed between representatives of the Serbian and Kosovo governments at the forthcoming round of EU-mediated talks, Edita Tahiri, Kosovo’s deputy prime minister, told reporters today. Speaking after a morning meeting with Robert Cooper, the EU’s dialogue facilitator, Tahiri expressed

The Nabucco gas pipeline, meant to wean Europe off of its dependency on Russian gas, could become operational a year later than planned, in 2018, stakeholder OMV said Tuesday. Gerhard Roiss, CEO of the Austrian oil and gas giant, told the Austria Press Agency the first gas deliveries to Europe …

US Vice President Joe Biden will visit debt-riddled Greece and Turkey, a vital American ally in the Middle East, on a major overseas trip in early December, the White House said Monday. Washington has been issuing increasingly stark warnings on the extent to which the eurozone crisis, which risks being …

The European Union’s military mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina is to be drastically reduced in size, the bloc’s foreign ministers agreed on Monday. The EU’s Althea mission currently has about 1,300 troops at its disposal – 30 per cent less than what is foreseen in its operational mandate – diplomats …

Croatian and Montenegrin presidents Ivo Josipovic and Filip Vujanovic have said that bilateral relations between the two countries are very good and could serve as a model to other countries in the region. The pair were speaking after an hour-long meeting in Zagreb on Monday.

Political and military leaders from NATO have praised a new US defence system installed in Europe saying it will help protect the Balkans as well the US. “The anti-missile shield installed by the United States in Europe is efficient, as recent tests show, and a good investment,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen, …

The dialog between Belgrade and Pristina will not continue most probably. The actual negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia will resume in the spring of 2012. The EU mediator Robert Cooper did not manage to persuade Serbia’s chief negotiator Borislav Stefanovic into continuing the talks about telecommunication, energy and regional cooperation.

Romania will continue to participate in the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR), Romanian President Traian Basescu said Monday during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest. Basescu said Romania is maintaining its stance and does not recognize Kosovo’s unilaterally declared independence until Belgrade and Pristina reach an agreement.

Macedonia expects a real report from the European Commission (EC), said Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska. In minister’s words, the report will be a guide of the reforms, which need to be done during the next time period. “This year again I expect a report of principle, which will give …