Balkans

Macedonia should continue with reforms aimed at securing NATO and EU membership, Turkish EU Minister Egemen Bagis said Friday (March 25th) after meeting Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Vasko Naumovski in Skopje. The two officials welcomed friendly relations between their countries and lauded their ongoing co-operation in the field …

Leader of opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) Branko Crvenkovski said that his party proposes for the early elections in the country to be held on June 26. Two conditions have been set. The first one requires for the tax services not to impose new restrictions on A1 TV …

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Mevlut Cavusoglu says this body is considering potential sanctions against Bosnia-Herzegovina. The reason for this is the country’s failure to form government at the state level six months after the election.

Belgrade has a red line it will not cross in its talks with Priština, head of the Serbian team for the talks Borislav Stefanović said. The line is not to recognize the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration of independence or agree to let northern, predominantly Serb-inhabited area of Kosovo come under

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and Kosovo counterpart Behgjet Pacolli on Wednesday (March 23rd) reaffirmed their countries’ friendly bilateral ties. Ivanov said Macedonia is ready to support Kosovo’s Euro-Atlantic bids and share its experiences. The two presidents also discussed ways to boost bilateral economic co-operation, during this, Pacolli’s first visit to …

The head of International Civilian Office, Pieter Feith, is encouraging Kosovo institutions to continue decentralisation and start implementing the process in the Serb-dominated north as well. After a meeting Wednesday

Greece is set to present Thursday its counter-arguments within the public hearing before the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Macedonia’s suit against Greece for violating the 1995 bilateral Interim Treaty by objecting to Macedonia’s application to join NATO. The Greek team is led by Maria Telalian, legal advisor …

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski will meet with Greek counterpart Giorgeos Papandreou in Brussels on Monday. The Macedonian government announced that the two will discuss issues of mutual and regional interest. The meeting, which will be held in the frames of the European council, is part of the process aiming …

RS President Milorad Dodik has stated that spoke with Russian PM Vladimir Putin about the political situation in the Serb entity and Bosnia-Herzegovina. They also discussed economic cooperation, according to Dodik. The two met in Belgrade on Wednesday.

Bulgaria and Romania will be part of the Schengen area very soon, this is the general trend and it is quite clear, German foreign ministry state secretary Werner Hoyer said in Berlin on March 23 2011.