Balkans

Government officials met with representatives of the European Commission (EC) on Tuesday in Pristina, the first plenary meeting of the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) Dialogue. Discussions focused on Kosovo’s

Belgium’s caretaker prime minister Yves Leterme told EU lawmakers Wednesday that Brussels would try to secure a deal to ensure a start of Macedonia’s EU accession talks. “As regards the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the presidency will try to secure an agreement for launch of membership talks,” Leterme said …

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will ick his 2-day visit to Kosovo on Thursday. Tony Blair is set to have several meetings with intitutional leaders and will hold a speech in front of the

President of the Serb National Council of Kosovo and Metohija (SNV) Milan Ivanović says the EULEX prosecution dropped charges against him for several offenses.

Macedonia’s Minister of Defense Zoran Konjanovski and Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki pointed out that Macedonia holds intensive name talks with Greece. They made the remarks at the meeting with NATO Secretary General Andres Fogh Rasmussen in Brussels.

The Belgian EU presidency is willing to help facilitate an agreement between Macedonia and Greece on the name dispute in order to make the start of accession talks between Skopje and Brussels possible.

The European Parliament will hold a debate on Albania on Wednesday, with MEPs and the EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton expected to participate. The Parliament is also expected to vote on a resolution on Albania drafted by Greek left-wing MEP Nikolaos Chountis. Speaking for Deutsche Welle radio Chountis said …

Momcilo Mandic testified at the trial of Radovan Karadzic that some individuals carried out ethnic cleansing of the non-Serbian population in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war, but that they did not do it

The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, has said that the fight against corruption and organised crime is one of the main priorities for Kosovo’s development.

Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said on Monday (July 5th) that Greece has managed to slash its budget deficit by 42% since the beginning of the year. According to the Central Bank, the deficit is now 4.9% of GDP, or 11.45 billion euros, compared to 19.685 billion euros a year …