Balkans

Representatives of Serbian government and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, have reached agreement on the fourth review of the country’s stand-by arrangement, which will enable Serbia to draw down €380 million. Addressing reporters on Wednesday, Serbian Minister of Finance Diana Dragutinovic said that due to slowed economic growth in Serbia, …

US and UK diplomats think that Serbian President Boris Tadic could use his authority to be the mediator and influence a positive outcome of the Slovenian referendum for the arbitrary agreement for the border dispute with Croatia, scheduled for June 6, and also for

Serbian President Boris Tadić will next week pay a three-day visit to Greece, his office told Tanjug on Wednesday. Tadić’s visit was also confirmed in Athens. The president will visit Greece from June 1 to 3 at the invitation of his counterpart Karolos Papoulias.

Pieter Feith, head of the International Civilian Office in Kosovo, believes the International Court of Justice’s ruling on the legality of Kosovo’s independence will be delivered before the end of July.

Romanian President Traian Basescu is on an official visit to Skopje today, where he is meeting with his Macedonian counterpart George Ivanov. Speaking at a joint press conference with Ivanov in the Macedonian capital, Basescu said that Bucharest would accept any solution on the name issue that is reached between …

Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, will join prosecutors from the region for a two-day conference in Brioni, Croatia on cooperation in war crimes prosecution.

The European Commission announced today its adoption of a proposal to lift the visa regime for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the two countries must still fulfill remaining benchmarks before their citizens can travel without a visa in the Schengen zone.

The Prime Ministers of Serbia and Slovenia, Mirko Cvetkovic and Borut Pahor, on Wednesday expressed their desire to deal with unresolved issues from their shared past and to focus on the shared future of EU membership for the west Balkan region.

EU foreign ministers, as well as senior officials from the EU, U.S. and Russia will be attending the EU-Western Balkans conference on June 2 in Sarajevo. The information was confirmed by the Bosnia-Herzegovina Foreign Ministry.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday (May 25th) to discuss the situations in Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). “All … shared the view that BiH’s future lies in Euro-Atlantic structures,” Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting.