Balkans

The preparations for Croatia’s accession deal with EU will begin during December. The EU board members decided to open workshop groups, responsible for the preparation of Croatia’s accession deal. Croatia accepted the Sweden’s recommendation and began with the preparations with accession deal.

Serbia’s Minister of Infrastructure Milutin Mrkonjic said the construction of Belgrade-Bar highway, part of the pan-European Corridor 11 will start next year. Upon visiting works on the road section in the town of Kraljevo on Saturday, Mrkonjic told reporters that 20 million euros have been set aside in the state …

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Sunday at a meeting with his visiting Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski in Istanbul reiterated his support for Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration and backed the country in its “name” dispute with Greece. At the meeting Erdogan underlined that he felt Macedonia should be a fully-fledged NATO …

Despite intense speculation, it is still not clear whether Macedonia will secure a start date for its EU accession talks at the regular EU foreign minister meeting scheduled for Monday. Although the European Commission and the European Parliament supported the start of negotiations with Skopje, the chances of Macedonia securing …

Political parties on Sunday started campaigning for the second round of Kosovo’s municipal elections scheduled for 13 December that will be held in 21 municipalities, including in the country’s second largest town Prizren. The results are key as they will determine the overall political make-up of Kosovo’s municipalities.

The former President of Republika Srpska filed a motion with The Hague Tribunal Monday asking it to annul its decision to appoint Richard Harvey as his defence attorney. Radovan Karadzic asked the Court to allow him to choose an attorney from the list, which meets the norms set by the …

The Hague Tribunal’s Trial Chamber rejected Radovan Karadzic’s motion challenging the Tribunal’s legitimacy. “The Trial Chamber would like to point out, once again, that the indictee should better invest his efforts in preparing for the continuation of the trial than submitting motions for ‘moral reasons’, despite the fact that he …

EU foreign ministers will meet on Monday in Brussels and are expected to make a decision unfreezing the interim trade agreement with Serbia. The EU ministers will make a decision after holding a meeting with Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, who recently reported to the UN Security Council positively on …

Serbian FM Vuk Jeremić said that Belgrade’s goal is make sure no other countries recognize Kosovo’s unilateral proclamation after the ICJ gives its opinion. “What we want to do is to make sure there are no new recognitions of Kosovo after the ICJ case ends, and to not allow Kosovo …

The contract for the construction of the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline was not favourable for Bulgaria and against national interests, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said during a visit to the Black Sea city of Bourgas on December 6 2009.