Balkans

The Hague Tribunal may cease to operate in 2013 but UN forces will stay in Kosovo, says UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Ban said that the Hague Tribunal was considering the possibility of completing its work by the end of 2013 and that back-up mechanisms should be prepared if Ratko …

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says that all the Balkan states should become EU member-states. “Hurdles remain, but our political position is very clear,“ Kouchner said, adding that French President Nicolas Sarkozy had said as much, “also unambiguously,“ to Serbian President Boris Tadić.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has welcomed the decision to send European Commission observers to monitor the local elections in Kosovo. “We are firmly focused on having free, fair and democratic elections, with turnout as high as possible and the acceptance of high democratic standards, the building of a new …

A “mini Dayton” is getting under way at the Butmir base near Sarajevo attended by officials from the EU and U.S., and the most influential Bosnian leaders. The meeting began with an informal working dinner, where, according to unofficial reports, Bosnian leaders were presented with a set of measures to …

The informal meeting of foreign ministers of South-East European Cooperation Process will begin in Istanbul on Friday. The informal meeting of foreign ministers of South-East European Cooperation Process will begin in Istanbul on Friday. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will host the two-day meeting. Foreign Ministers and deputy prime ministers …

Macedonian Parliamentary Delegation will participate in OSCE meetings set to be held from 9 to 11 October in Greece. Head of Delegation Parliamentarian Andrej Petrov (SDSM) will be accompanied by Vladimir Gjorcev (VMRO-DPMNE) and Hisen Dzemaili (DUI).

Laws in Macedonia are not democratic enough, Bulgaria’s Minister of Bulgarian residents abroad, Bozhidar Dimitrov, said to journalists, commenting on the Spaska Mitrova case.

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister has made it clear he will not nominate former Tsar Simeon Saxe-Coburg for the race for the soon-to-be-created post of European Union President. Boyko Borisov, who once served as a bodyguard to the former Tsar and Prime Minister Saxe-Coburg, vehemently opposed the suggestion made earlier in the …

Leader of Greek socialist party PASOK, Georgios Papandreou, who is the new Prime Minister of the country after winning the October 4 general elections, is to arrive Friday in Istanbul to take part in the informal meeting of the foreign ministers in the South East European Co-operation Process (SEECP).

Emergency negotiations, convened by senior European Union and US officials and attended by the leaders of Bosnia’s three main ethnic groups, have started in an attempt to break the country’s political deadlock. The meeting started with a joint dinner on Thursday evening and continued on Friday morning. It is taking …