Balkans

Albania’s Socialists urge Berisha to open ballot boxes or step down

Albania’s opposition Socialist Party is set to launch fresh protests Friday to demand either recount the vote in a controversial June election or hold another. Socialist Party leader Edi Rama accused Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the Democratic Party of rigging the parliamentary elections. The Socialists lost to PM Sali …

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Bulgaria PM: We Are Ready to Participate in South Steam, Nabucco

Bulgaria is prepared to participate in both the South Stream and Nabucco gas line projects, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, declared Friday. Borisov spoke upon conclusion of his meeting with the Special Envoy of the United States Secretary of State for Eurasian Energy, Richard Morningstar, who is on an offical …

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Montenegro Joins NATO’s MAP; Bosnia Must Wait

NATO has accepted Montenegro in its Membership Action Plan, MAP, an essential stepping stone towards full membership in the Alliance. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to join the Plan because the country has not made enough progress in necessary reforms, foreign ministers said. However they promised that Bosnia and Herzegovina …

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PACE post-monitoring visit to Bulgaria

As part of the post-monitoring dialogue with Bulgaria, Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), Chair of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will travel to Sofia on 7-8 December on a fact-finding visit, PACE announced.

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Croatia cancels visas for Montenegrin citizens

Croatian Foreign Ministry has started a procedure to add Montenegro on the list of countries whose citizens do not need visas to travel via and stay in Croatia for up to 90 days. Up to now Montenegrin citizens could travel to Croatia without visas, but the regime was temporary and …

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Brammertz: Serbia Made Constant Progress

Chief  UN War Crimes Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said on Thursday that Serbia has made “constant progress” in efforts to finalise cooperation with The Hague-based Tribunal, but the arrest of war crimes fugitives Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic remains the key issue. Presenting his progress report on Serbia’s cooperation with the …

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Croatia Proposes Macedonia Name Row Arbitrage

The Skopje-Athens name row could be solved via international arbitrage, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic told journalists after meeting his Macedonian counterpart Georgi Ivanov on Thursday in Skopje. Croatia is nearing the end of its EU accession talks. Zagreb’s talks were stalled for almost a year when neighboring Slovenia blocked Croatia’s …

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Slovakia supports Serbia on Kosovo, EU

Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič started his official two-day visit to Serbia on Thursday. Gašparovič has met with President Boris Tadić in the Palace of Serbia, after which the two presidents held a joint press conference. The Slovak president said that his country supports Serbia on EU integrations, and on Belgrade’s …

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Bosnian leaders on Steinberg visit

RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and other political leaders in Bosnia met yesterday with U.S. deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg. Dodik, who heads the government of the Serb entity, said after the meeting that solutions would not be imposed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that Bosnian leaders would have to reach …

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