Balkans

The International Monetary Fund said Serbia has breached its stand-by funding agreement by allocating more than previously agreed sum for public sector wages in its 2010 budget. Serbia has allocated 120 million euros more than pre-agreed with the Fund, B92 quoted the IMF Resident Representative in Serbia, Bogdan Lissovolik, as …

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski had a phone talk with his Greek counterpart Georgios Papandreou. Gruevski’s cabinet announced that the talk was held at the initiative of the Macedonian prime minister.

The detailed planning of Nabucco will be carried out by five engineering companies from all countries participating in the project, Mr Reinhard Mitschek, Managing Director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH, said.

Bulgaria’s new EC commissioner designate responsible for international co-operation, humanitarian aid and crisis response, Kristalina Georgieva, seemed to impress her inquisitors in the EU Parliament during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Several MEPs congratulated Georgieva’s command of her new proposed portfolio, including British Labour MEP Michael Cashman, who praised Georgieva’s …

Greek President Karolos Papoulias was re-elected for a second five-year term in office Wednesday after winning majority support in a parliamentary vote.

Kosovo Parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi called on Britain to continue to support Kosovo’s efforts to join the United Nations and other international organizations. During his stay in London, Krasniqi met with House of Commons Speaker John Berkow. Krasniqi called on British government to hail the strategy of the authorities in …

Spanish FM Miguel Angel Moratinos says the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU is one of the Spanish presidency’s priorities. Moratinos said that Spain expects that the EU member-states will be able to unfreeze the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia by June. The agreement was signed …

We cannot miss saying that this is some long-awaited agreement. It is a result of the work of many governments since 2002 till now, MP Ramadan Atalay from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party said, commenting on the ratification of the Nabucco Agreement.

Bulgarian MPs passed the draft bill for ratification of the Agreement among Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey on the construction of the Nabucco gas pipeline project. The draft bill on the ratification of the Nabucco Agreement has been passed with 156 votes.

Bosnian Police arrested on Monday (February 1st) a former Muslim commander suspected of committing war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war during the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict. Zulfikar Alispago allegedly did not take appropriate measures to punish subordinates who committed war crimes in the village of Trusina, near Konjic, on …