Balkans

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen reiterated that Holland is adamant in its stance of not allowing Serbia to continue its European integration.

European parliament member Doris Pack said that Serbia will not enter the European Union “until it solves its problems with Kosovo”. According to Deutsche Welle, she said at a round table discussion in Berlin that Serbia’s “biggest problem is the fact that Kosovo is its closest neighbor which it does …

Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Ilarion of Volokolamsk is in Gračanica, reports said. The Russian Orthodox Church dignitary said that he had come to pay tribute to one of the oldest cradles of the Orthodox Christianity, where big historic events took place.

Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Roćen stated that his country “does not have any open border issues with its neighbors”. Roćen was answering MP questions in parliament in Podgorica on Tuesday when he said that he had learned from the media about the ethnic Albanian protests near the town of Peć, …

The leader of the Democratic Party (PDM) Marian Lupu, who is the Alliance for European Integration’s candidate for the presidency, had a meeting with the leader of the Communists Party (PCRM) Vladimir Voronin on Wednesday. The Communist MP Mark Tkachuk said that Lupu and Voronin could not come to terms …

European Parliament’s Rapporteur for Macedonia and Slovenian MEP, Zoran Taler, is due to pay a visit to Macedonia on Thursday. According to the agenda, Taler will meet with the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European Affairs, Vasko Naumovski. Shortly after the European Commission published the report on Macedonia’s progress, …

The Bulgarian government has approved a package of measures for energy cooperation with Montenegro. The accord encompasses segments like oil, natural gas, electricity, renewable energy resources and energy efficiency. The paper will be signed during the upcoming visit of Montenegro’s President Filip Vujanović to Bulgaria.

The Croatian authorities claim to be fighting corruption and reforming the judiciary, but they will have to do more before joining the EU, European Voice says.

Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic will again boycott his genocide trial when it resumes at a UN tribunal in The Hague next week, one of his legal advisers said Wednesday. “He will not attend Monday,” Marco Sladojevic said after a meeting with the 64-year-old Karadzic. Karadzic, who is defending …

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana opposes the holding of referendum on any putative agreement to end the Skopje-Athens name row. “I don’t think [in] parliamentary democracies the referendum is the best solution,” Solana said. “Look at our experience,” he added, referring to the complications the Irish referenda caused for …