Balkans

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that he expects “both Serbian and Kosovo officials” to be present at the EU-Western Balkans conference. The gathering is planned for June in Sarajevo. Belgrade snubbed an informal conference earlier this year in Slovenia, insisting that Kosovo Albanian officials take part in accordance with …

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini will visit Serbia today. Ahead of his visit Frattini said that Italian diplomats are investing maximum efforts to soon unfreeze the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between the European Union and Serbia and carry out a technical evaluation of Serbia’s application for accession in the …

The fight against organized crime dominated the discussions between the leaders of Bulgaria and Serbia on Monday, as the Bulgarian delegation headed by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov is on an official visit to Belgrade. The two ministers of interior, Ivica Dacic of Serbia and Tzvetan Tsvetanov of Bulgaria signed an …

Macedonian Minister of Local Government Musa Xhaferi and Kosovo Minister of Local Administration Sadri Ferati on Monday signed an agreement on border cooperation. The treaty on the Program for Cross-Border Cooperation between Macedonia and Kosovo is part of the strategic projects funded by the European Union’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance …

Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said on Sunday (April 25th) that he expects the final terms of the EU/IMF aid package for his country to be ready by the end of May, and that this would be acceptable to all euro zone members. After a series of meetings in Washington …

European Parliament (EP) rapporteur on visa liberalisation for the Western Balkans, Tanja Fajon, believes that BiH has met most criteria for EU visa liberalisation. In an interview with the Nezavisne Novine daily published on Saturday (April 24th), she indicated that the European Commission will submit a proposal to scrap visas …

The European Commission (EC) says Albania has completed just one of four sections of its EU visa liberalisation questionnaire, local media reported on Sunday (April 25th). Government and local integration officials had assured the public that Tirana has met all technical criteria in the process. The section praised by Brussels …

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Taiyyp Erdogan, accompanied by a delegation of 10 ministers, will be on an official visit to Athens on day 14-15. The news about the upcoming visit broke from Greek First Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who made a joint statement …

After years of opposing the project, Romania is now ready to join the Russian-backed South Stream gas transit pipeline, officials in Bucharest said. “We have been able to start a dialogue, including with Russia. South Stream will pass through Romania,” the country’s Economy Minister Adriean Videanu said Thursday.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov is scheduled to leave Monday for an official trip to Serbia, his office has informed. Borisov is set to meet with Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and President Boris Tadic and is expected to