Balkans

Stefan Füle, European Commissioner for Expansion, has called on Montenegro’s political elite to reach an agreement on election law, a minimum requirement for Montenegro to receive a date for EU accession negotiations. The European Commissioner again called on the government and opposition to reach agreement on adoption of the election …

Greece faces more demands for fiscal tightening as senior government officials acknowledge that the country is likely to overshoot limits set on its budget deficit this year. Greece’s deficit could exceed 8.5% of gross domestic product, compared with an official forecast for 7.6%, as the government struggles to meet revenue …

Serbian President Boris Tadić will hold separate meetings with his Croatian, Montenegrin and Macedonian counterparts in Belgrade on Thursday. The meetings will be held ahead of the 9th UNESCO summit of Southeast European heads of state.

Belgrade negotiating team head Borislav Stefanović has spoken to northern Kosovo Serb representatives about the current situation in the province. They talked about political and security situation and about further steps, especially about the upcoming dialogue in Brussels. “At the same time we talked about possibilities to solve the crisis …

Serbian President Boris Tadić says that Serbia supports the actions of KFOR and EULEX in the north of Kosovo exclusively if they are aimed at combating crime. Another condition would be for the operation to be based on the “status-neutral mandate of the international missions”.

Bulgarian Minister of Culture Vezhdi Rashidov will meet with Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Popovski on September 1, the press office of the ministry announced.

Bulgaria’s government passed a draft bill for a Memorandum for cooperation in the field of European and Euro-Atlantic integration between Bulgaria and Macedonia, the press

The next Belgrade-Pristina talks, taking place in Brussels on September 2, will focus on the cadastre, Telecom and customs seals.  This is according to Edita Tahiri, Kosovo’s head of negotiating team. ‘Customs seals, telecommunications and cadastre will be among the topics discussed at the next Belgrade-Pristina talks, slated for September …

EULEX special force operation in northern Kosovo as a part of the investigation into the murder of a Kosovo policeman on July 26 is over. The operation was carried out in the area of Zubin Potok and Zupče. 

An EU-led investigation into a human organ trafficking scandal which has tainted Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci will start in September. Allegations that organs were taken from prisoners at secret detention centers run by ethnic Albanian rebels during the