Balkans

Serbia is getting mixed signals from EU countries on when to formally apply for membership, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić told Reuters in New York. He also added that “a decision soon will be made soon”. Jeremić said that EU membership was Serbia’s “central strategic priority”.

Macedonia and Italy will sign the third program on bilateral cooperation in the field of culture, education and science for the period from 2009 to 2012. The document will be signed this afternoon in Skopje by Macedonia Culture Minister Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska and the Italian Ambassador in Macedonia.

Vietnam and Venezuela are the last two countries to present their arguments to the court on Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia. The process was taken by Serbia to the International Court of Justice.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrives on Friday on a two-day official visit to Montenegro. Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic and Gul are to meet in the Cetinje residence and then they will hold a press conference. A business delegation of some 100 members will arrive with the Turkish President to attend …

Serbian officials are discussing when would be the most opportune moment to submit an application for EU candidacy. Despite the many statements by state officials that Serbia will submit its application by the year’s end, the country’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic now says that such a decision has not been …

EU foreign ministers’ conclusion Tuesday is not the same as last year’s NATO conclusion in Bucharest regarding the country’s entry into the Alliance, the EU’s top ambassador to Skopje told media. He said the decision by foreign ministers to revisit the question of whether to give Macedonia a start date …

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has denied that Bulgaria was among the countries that had prevented the EU from extending a date for neighbouring Macedonia to begin EU accession negotiations. Borisov stated this on Thursday after local media in Macedonia speculated that his country backed Greece at this week’s EU …

Speaking in ceremony organised by the office of the ombudsman, Albania’s President Bamir Topi, US and EU diplomats called on the country’s politicians to show greater respect for democratic standards. “Democracy, constitutional law and human rights are dynamic concepts, always progressing and as such efforts to stand alongside them, to …

The Netherlands, Laos, Romania and UK will state their opinions on the legality of Kosovo’s secession at the Peace Palace in The Hague on Thursday.

NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Admiral James Stavridis was in Priština on Wednesday. He told reporters that the number of the NATO-led KFOR troops in Kosovo would be reduced from the present 15,000 to 10,000 by the end of January 2010.