Balkans

Macedonian Defense Minister Fatmir Besimi is to depart on a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday. He will meet with his Bosnian counterpart Selmo Cikotic to discuss bilateral and regional cooperation and security. He will also visit the Macedonian contingent within the ALTHEA mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

All roads in northern Kosovo were unblocked on Thursday after EULEX had finished its operation in the Zubin Potok area. EULEX police returned to southern Kosovska Mitrovica and local Serbs removed the barricades. The roadblocks were set up right after the EULEX police blocked a road between Kosovska Mitrovica and …

lovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Žbogar says Serbia has done enough to get not only the EU candidate status but also a date for the beginning of the EU talks. “The Slovenian and the Serbian government think alike, and that is why we should work together. I also believe that Serbia …

Macedonia celebrates Thursday the 20th anniversary of the declaration of its independence from the former Yugoslavia. The central celebration will be held on Thursday evening in downtown Skopje.

Montenegrin PM Igor Lukšić and the opposition reached an agreement Thursday on the name of the language and subject in the Montenegrin education system. The agreement opens the possibility for the opposition to support the election bill at the parliament.

Albania’s Socialist opposition returned to parliament on Monday, ending a three-month boycott, but the country’s path towards EU accession may have been affected, warns one think tank. The Socialist opposition started boycotting parliament in protest against what it alleged were irregularities in the May 8 race for the post of …

Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis said on Wednesday in Belgrade that Serbia “deserves to be given EU candidate status”. The Greek official also pledged his country’s support to that end.

On September 2 France extradited war crimes suspect Milorad Momic to Croatia, the Croatian Interior Ministry said. Momic was arrested in France on a warrant issued by Interpol in February 2011, Aleksandra Ljuba.

Greek FM Stavros Lambrinidis believes Serbia will become EU candidate by the end of the year, and calls for a continuation of the Belgrade-Priština dialogue. He said that the dialogue can help Serbia’s EU integration.

The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompey has encouraged Kosovo’s President Atifete Jahjaga to continue in its dialogue with Serbia. Van Rompey said on Tuesday that dialogue needed to continue between the two countries to help make progress on remaining issues.