Balkans

The presidents of Serbia, Croatia and Hungary have started their meeting today in Pecs, Hungary. Boris Tadić, Ivo Josipović and Laszlo Solyom will address journalists afterwards. The three presidents would discuss specific forms of cooperation.

The Bulgarian nationalist party VMRO is making formal steps to call a referendum on Turkey’s EU accession. On Friday, the party will formally notify the Parliament on its intention to start collecting signatures in order to request the holding of a national referendum, as required by law.

Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland praised the reforms implemented in Serbia during a visit to the country Wednesday (April 14th). He announced that the CoE’s Committee of Ministers has decided to

Slovenia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Milan Balazic says Slovenia has no more reservations concerning the opening and closing of negotiation chapters in Croatia’s accession talks with the EU.

The government announced plans Wednesday to allocate around 4m euros for implementation of a strategy to put northern Kosovo under the control of Pristina rather than Belgrade-backed parallel structures.

The reforms for the country’s EU accession have been seriously delayed, which is dangerous for the future of the country, said Radmila Sekerinska, chairperson of the Macedonian National Council for European Integration and MP from the oppositional Social Democratic Union for Integration (SDSM).

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov will meet Thursday with Branko Crvenkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia in the period 2004-2009, the President’s press secretariat informed. The meeting will take place at 11:00 a.m. local time.

A realistic date for Serbia to acquire a status of EU candidate-country is June 2011, Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Bozidar Djelic said. In an interview with Novosti daily, Djelic said the EU

The support for Macedonia’s EU and NATO integration remains a vital element in US efforts to promote peace and stability in the Balkan region. US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs

Slovenian MEP Zoran Thaler will hold lecture on „Macedonia’s EU integration and name issue“, Thursday afternoon in Skopje. Zoran Thaler is EP rapporteur on Macedonia. The lecture, which will take place in the Congress center at Skopje fair, will be open for the public.