Balkans

Bulgarian Foreign Minister was in the Albanian capital of Tirana on May 14 2010 at the close of his Western Balkans tour that has taken him to Skopje, Belgrade, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo and Banja Luka underlining his message that Bulgaria wants to do its utmost to assist the region’s European …

Bulgaria will help the Republic of Srpska overcome the obstacles Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing in its quest to join the EU, Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov stated. “We are glad that with our visit here, we can see other viewpoints. But what is more positive is that the Euro-Atlantic integration …

The finance ministry announced on Wednesday (May 12th) that Greece received 5.5 billion euros from the IMF as part of the international aid to help the country overcome its financial crisis. The money will be used to repay part of the country’s huge debt. In other news, Greece’s two main …

The European Commission (EC) is pressing BiH to approve a law on holding a population census across both entities. The head of the EC delegation to BiH, Dimitris Kourkoulas, said on Wednesday (May 12th) that Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele and Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn have sent a …

Hague Chief Serge Brammertz had a meeting with President of the Serbian National Council for Cooperation Rasim Ljajić on Thursday. Brammertz will also confer with Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević later in the day.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha will visit Macedonia later this month, Albanian media quote government sources as saying. During the stay in Skopje, Berisha is expected to reiterate Albania’s support to peace and stability in Macedonia. The same sources said Albanian prime minister and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski are …

The European Commission is expected to announce on Wednesday whether it will target Bulgaria with an excessive deficit procedure for exceeding the ceiling of 3% of GDP as it issues its report on euro hopefuls. The Commission will say whether Bulgaria, Denmark, Luxembourg and Finland are in breach of the …

Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik told High Representative Valentin Inzko on Tuesday (May 11th) that his entity is willing to resolve state and military property issues but others are not. At a meeting in Banja Luka, Dodik also said that while RS is ready to comply with December’s …

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said that he believes the trial of Dragan Vasiljkovic, who was arrested in Australia yesterday, will be fair. “I do believe that today in Croatia everybody can expect a fair trial. As in any legal system, we have all that is needed to monitor the quality …

Croatia’s Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic is optimistic that Croatia will open the judiciary chapter of its EU accession negotiations in June, and will be able to wrap up talks by the end of the year. In an interview with Europolitics Tuesday (May 11th), Simonovic said that