Balkans

Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina must catch up on the reforms needed to qualify for a short-stay visa waiver like those of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, said MEPs on Thursday. The European Commission should report on the two countries’ progress early in 2010, and also …

The International Monetary Fund, IMF, could delay the release of the second installment of its stand-by deal with Bosnia, an official said. “I have a feeling that the second installment will be postponed,’’ Mustafa Mujezinovic, the prime minister of Bosnia’s Croat-Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) entity told journalists.

EU countries have agreed to proceed with Albania’s application for membership of the European Union, a first step in a long process towards possible membership of the bloc, EU diplomats said. Ambassadors from the 27 EU states decided at a meeting in Brussels to ask the European Commission to prepare …

Državljanima BiH u proteklih 14 godina postalo je oko 16.000 osoba. Među njima je i oko 1.500 plaćenika i dobrovoljaca koji su u BiH došli kako bi ratovali za jednu od sukobljenih strana. Pasoš BiH dobijali su osuđeni kriminalci, osumnjičeni za terorizam, plaćeni vojnici – jednom riječju psi rata. U …

The Bulgarian government Wednesday formally put forward Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva to be the country’s new EU Commissioner. 

A former Bosnian Serb army general has lost his appeal against a conviction for war crimes committed during the 43-month siege of Sarajevo. 

The OSCE has criticized the provisional institutions in Priština saying that they are not meeting their obligations toward the returnees in Kosovo. In its report, the OSCE said that the Albanian majority in the province had taken very few concrete steps since the adoption of the strategy for reintegration of …

The ambassadors of EU member states have agreed to proceed with Albania’s application for EU membership, local media reported on Thursday. The same sources said ambassadors from the 27 EU states decided at a meeting in Brussels to ask the European Commission to prepare an assessment of Albania’s readiness to …

A possible Greek decision to block EU member states from setting a date for the start of Macedonia’s EU accession talks would mean Skopje’s southern neighbour does not have any interest in resolving the name row, the Macedonian Prime Minister told media. “In December we shall see if Greece really …

Macedonia’s government has decided to turn its liaison office in Pristina into embassy, Deputy Prime Minister Abdulakim Ademi said. The decision was reached at a government session late Wednesday. “This is the government’s final decision. At the same time the government initiated a procedure for appointing an ambassador to Pristina,” …