Balkans

EU threatens Balkan countries with reimposing visas because false asylum seekers

False asylum seekers could bring back EU visas for Serbia and other countries, warnings from Brussels said. As Serbian government officials delivered their answers to the EU questionnaire recently, they were told that a “concrete strategy to reduce the number of illegal immigrants needed to be created”. The European Union …

Read More »

Italian Foreign Minister visits Belgrade

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini will visit Belgrade on Monday. Frattini will meet with Serbian President Boris Tadić, Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Božidar Đelić and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić. The Italian FM will discuss with Serbian officials the country’s EU integration and regional cooperation, in light of the …

Read More »

Tens of thousands rallied for early elections in Belgrade

Tens of thousands of people gathered on Saturday (February 5th) in front of the parliament building in Belgrade at a rally organised by the opposition Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Its leader, Tomislav Nikolic, gave the government two months to call early elections or face the risk of continuous protests. SNS …

Read More »

Macedonian president agrees to meet opposition on Monday

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov has called a political leaders’ meeting for Monday (February 7th), to discuss the current situation in the parliament following a boycott staged by the opposition. Opposition parties led by SDSM walked out of parliament last week to protest the freezing of the private A1 television channel’s …

Read More »

France and The Netherlands ask for Monitoring mechanism for Bosnia and Albania

The Netherlands and France have asked for a monitoring mechanism for the visa-free regime for BiH and Albania. In a letter sent to the European Commission (EC), the two countries said the time has come to introduce such a mechanism and sanctions should be imposed in case of abuses. Citizens …

Read More »