Balkans

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has decided to send observers to monitor the early elections in Macedonia. According to PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu the organization decided to send observers although no official invitation had been received.

UN war crimes tribunal chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz visited Sarajevo on Monday (April 11th) for talks with BiH Presidency Chairman Nebojsa Radmanovic and BiH presidency member Bakir Izetbegovic. The visit preceded Brammertz’s report on co-operation by former Yugoslav countries that he is due to submit to the UN Security Council …

The European Parliament will vote a resolution on Bulgaria’s Schengen entry on June 4 2011, the EP rapporteur on the subject, Portuguese MEP Carlos Coelho, announced Monday in Brussels. “Bulgaria has covered the necessary technical criteria better than some of the states already in the Agreement,” Coelho said. He prepared …

Croatia’s president says the country could join the EU by January 2013, calling this an “ambitious, yet attainable goal”. “It’s very ambitious, because we are very close to concluding the negotiations. It takes a couple of months to prepare the treaties for signing, which will be followed by a possibly …

written by: Ioannis Michaletos The perennial issue of the existence of strong organized crime structures in the Balkan region is of great concern for the whole of Europe, due to the importance of this region as a main geo-economic hub between the European Union, Turkey and the Middle East, and …

Macedonia needs to boost its reform process and reach a name agreement with Greece in order to avoid slowing down its EU bid, the head of the European Commission said during his visit to Skopje. “Now is the time to settle the name issue, and the new climate of confidence …

The Macedonian parliament will be dissolved on Thursday, April 14. Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanovski said the meeting was due on Thursday. The decision to hold early elections on June 5 would be signed on April 15.

European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele wrapped up a regional tour promoting EU integration after stops in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Montenegro and Macedonia. It began Friday (April 8th) in Sarajevo where Barroso reiterated “BiH should have a European future,” after a meeting …

EU Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia Miroslav Lajcak will temporarily act as the bloc’s special representative in Kosovo after the mandate of Pieter Feith expires at the end

The Croatian government on Friday (April 8th) denied it is responsible for the cancelation of a planned visit by a Russian delegation led by Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko. Local media