Balkans

Montenegro and Kosovo have established diplomatic ties with an exchange of letters of foreign ministers, the government in Podgorica announced today. Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Roćen said in his letter that he expects the position of the Montenegrin community in Kosovo to be permanently solved, and that as this issue …

Georgia will hold the energy summit, although it is unclear when, Georgian Prime Minister Nika Gilauri said. Batumi hosted an energy conference instead of a planned energy summit Jan. 14. Senior officials from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Ukraine, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Belarus and the EU attended the conference. According …

Energy conference in Batumi attended by senior officials from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Ukraine, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Belarus and the EU has ended. The main purpose of the conference held in Batumi was to develop the initiative of the Southern Corridor as a guarantee of prosperity, stability and security …

Socialists in the European Parliament increased pressure on Bulgaria yesterday to change its candidate for the European Commission, raising the risk of further delay in installing the new EU executive. Centre-right members of parliament flexed their muscles in return, signalling they would challenge the suitability of Slovakia’s leftist candidate if …

In its first five months in office, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s Government has paid more monies under the EU’s operational programmes than its predecessor did in two and a half years. However, the European Commission (EC) is still not satisfied with pace of absorption of European financing, the Commission’s …

Greece has rejected an idea put forward by Macedonian parliamentarian Pavle Trajanov for a three stage solution to the Athens-Skopje name dispute, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said on Thursday. “Trajanov’s proposal is probably well intended and I greet it, but judging by the talks that I had with Greece …

Serbian President Boris Tadic has announced that he will not attend the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected Croatian President, Ivo Josipovic, if Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiju is attends too. Tadic believes that his presence at the ceremony, which is scheduled for 18 February, would mean that Serbia is indirectly …

One year after the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning and commemorating the genocide committed in Srebrenica in 1995, politicians in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska remain reluctant to consider taking a similar move. Serbia’s President Boris Tadic is urging Serbia’s Parliament to adopt a resolution condemning the massacre, …

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov is to confer an 8th September order on former Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev (1990 – 1997) for his exceptional contribution to the recognition of Macedonia’s independence and its further introduction in the international community.

Viktor Kalnik, Ambassador of Ukraine to Bulgaria, said that a second gas crisis could not be expected, as Ukraine and Russia had successfully negotiated the gas transit tariffs. He emphasized that in the end it was proved Ukraine never