Balkans

BiH – Members of the European People’s Party (EPP) group gathered on Saturday (June 5th) at a conference in Sarajevo to discuss co-operation and EU integration. In a joint statement they voiced support for the EU perspective for all countries from the region. The participants also stressed that perpetrators of …

Talks to reunify Cyprus are continuing in line with the parameters that have already been agreed between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders and the UN, Alexander Downer, the UN secretary-general’s special adviser on Cyprus, said on Friday (June 4th). “All chapters are being negotiated with the aim of increasing …

Setting a date for Macedonia’s EU accession talks will double the country’s enthusiasm for adopting reforms, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told media on Thursday. Milososki made the remarks after a regular meeting of Macedonian government officials

The Greek army has stated that it will considerably reduce its presence in the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. This comes as Athens is fighting a large debt crisis, the Albanian language media in Priština reported on Friday.

Foreign ministers of Serbia and Slovakia, Vuk Jeremić and Miroslav Lajčak, met on Thursday on Bratislava. They said that the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sarajevo earlier this week had confirmed the EU’s commitment to continued enlargement.

Bulgaria relaxes visa procedures for Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian and Moldovan nationals following an order signed by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov this Friday. The news comes immediately after Mladenov reported Friday morning that he has a draft ready for facilitating the visa regime for those countries.

I’m confident that there will be new talks on Kosovo status, State Secretary of Serbia’s Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija Oliver Ivanovic said. He said that talks on Kosovo status are inevitable and there are always the better option than tensions, which can be caused if there are no negotiations. …

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov:  We are Euro-Atlantic-oriented country. We work at good level with the Russian, American and European offices. The Prime Minister said that Deputy U.S. Secretary of State responsible for drug sector will arrive on Tuesday in Bulgaria. It is expected the two officials to discuss police …

Measures for further alleviations of the visa regime for Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Moldovan citizens will be initiated at the order of Bulgarian Minister Nikolay Mladenov is order to achieve an immediate effect on tourist flow, press centre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced. Visas for organized tourist groups …

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said on Wednesday (June 2nd) he would like to see a solution to the political crisis in Albania before the European Parliament (EP) discusses lifting the visa regime. “I would not like to answer on behalf of other institutions, however the EP respects EC decisions,” …