Balkans

European Parliament (EP) officials are acknowledging that mediation aimed at resolving the political stalemate in Albania has failed. After a month of efforts, leaders of left and right wing parties in the EP, Joseph Daul and

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and Vice President Zoran Stavreski had a meeting with Alexey Miller, CEO of Gazprom, in St Petersburg today, Macedonian TV channel Sitel reported. The officials expressed their content with the forthcoming signing of the contract for payment of the clearing debt, which Russia has towards Macedonia, …

Macedonian President Gjorgje Ivanov will pay a working visit to Russia, where he will attend the International economic forum in Saint Petersburg. President Ivanov is set to meet his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev on Friday. He is scheduled to meet Head of Gazprom Aleksey Miler and Head of Lukoil Valeriy …

Serbian President Boris Tadić met on Thursday in Belgrade with visiting Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi. The Serbian president thanked Baconschi for the firm support Romania is giving Serbia on its EU integrations road.

Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom is likely to replace Bulgaria with Romania in the South Stream pipeline network. This may come since Bulgaria halted the other two joint energy projects with Russia. The change in Gazprom’s policy came after Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boiko Borisov announced that the country would not move

Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Bakonski today will visit Serbia for the first time since his appointment last December. During a one-day working visit, Bakonski will meet with his host Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremi’ and is also expected to meet with other Serbian officials. Romania is one of the five …

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele urged the bloc on Tuesday (June 15th) to take further steps regarding Serbia’s bid. Belgrade submitted its formal EU membership application in late December. The European Commission (EC) is now awaiting a formal request from the Council of the EU to begin assessing the candidacy.

The OSCE mission in Kosovo published its report on war crimes trials in Kosovo on Tuesday, and has said that there has been a systematic failure to adjudicate war crimes cases. “All communities in Kosovo have been affected and none will be able to close this difficult chapter in their …

Relations between Bulgaria and Russia are excellent, based on extensive mutual co-operation, and not exclusively on one particular energy project, according to Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov, speaking after his regular Cabinet meeting on June 16 2010.

The European Commission initiated a procedure for excessive budget deficit against Cyprus, Finland, and Denmark. This makes Luxembourg the only eurozone country without a procedure for excessive budget deficit against it. The EU financial ministers will have a summit on July 13, when they will decide the austerity measures, which …