Balkans

Finland’s Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors visited Romania on Monday and Tuesday where she met with its Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi. Romania’s potential Schengen entry depends on Bulgaria’s technical assessment, which is scheduled for March, Thors said.

Serbian Deputy PM Božidar Đelić said Monday that Serbia will endeavor for full cooperation with the Hague. Serbia will pursue reforms in order to get the status of European Union membership candidate by the end of this year, Đelić told

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday (February 6th) urged authorities in northern Cyprus to track down participants in the January 28th rally. The protest in the Turkish-dominated part of the

Albania’s ruling Democratic Party has started preparations for the May 8th local elections. The country’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha told the National Council on Sunday (February 6th) that the government’s

US Ambassador to Kosovo Christopher Dell has reiterated his view about Kosovo’s need for a “clean-handed” and legitimate government. Dell said that the new government should be successful and ready to face

Talks will officially begin on Monday on the forming of a new Kosovo government in Priština. This comes after elections where Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo won a majority of votes, but not enough to form government alone. 

The UN Security Council will discuss the situation in Kosovo and the latest report by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a meeting scheduled for February 16. The UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is willing to support an

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 …

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 …

Bulgaria and Romania must take as much time as they need in order to get one hundred percent ready for joining the Schengen Area, which will probably not be just a few months, according to the French EU