Balkans

The memorandum for understanding and cooperation between the energy ministries of Bulgaria and Azerbaijan, inked by both parties 13 November, provides for wrapping up the talks between Bulgargaz and GNKAR and sealing a long-term natural gas delivery contract for at least 1 bcm in 2011-2012. Deliveries can be made through …

Russia was ready to finance the next two years of construction on Bulgaria’s second nuclear power plant in Belene on the Danube, Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said. That way the plant’s construction will not be put on hold, he said, noting that money needed for construction of Belene …

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Chairperson of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva opened the first European information centre in the region of Hadzhidimovo on Wednesday. The ceremony was attended by the regional governor Valeri Smilenov, MPs from Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB) etc.

Goran Lazić of the Independent Liberal Party (SLS) was named the assembly speaker in Gračanica at the assembly’s constitutive session. Lazić receive 14 votes from officials elected during the local elections in Kosovo held on November 15, organized by the Kosovo Albanian government in Priština. Ignored in the northern, Serb-dominated …

Kosovo’s parliament approved the national budget for 2010 amid heightened tension and bickering. Opposition parties strongly objected the budget, saying the partisanship affects government spending decisions. They left the session in a protest of overdue presentation of budget-related papers.

A row has erupted between Bosnian Serb politicians and the top international official in Bosnia-Hercegovina over the role of foreign judges and prosecutors. The international High Representative, Valentin Inzko, says the Bosnian Serb republic, Republika Srpska (RS), has violated the 1995 Dayton peace accords.

Albania’s opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama said on Tuesday the party will stage massive protest rallies after New Year’s holidays, demanding snap polls. Rama said the Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s government will face massive protests, adding that a large number of citizens will join the protest.

“France wants Serbia in the EU and that is the essence of our policy and our strategic course,” says French Ambassador Jean Francois Terral. The French diplomat said that during the meeting of the French and Serbian presidents on May 27 in Paris, Nicolas Sarkozy stressed that “we wanted Serbia …

Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac said that Serbia will be working within the framework of NATO, “even if it does not become a member-state”. He mentioned Austria as an example of this, and added that he hopes a debate will begin on this topic in 2010. “We will have to …

Serbian President Boris Tadić says he will be visiting Kosovo soon in order to show that Serbia is not giving up on the fight for the province and its citizens there. He said that the government will insist that its citizens in Kosovo prosper economically and have all the rights …