Balkans

TIRANA Nearly a week after parliamentary elections, Albania’s governing Democratic Party began to assemble a coalition government on Saturday, even as the opposition Socialists decried the move as premature.

GENEVA European citizens will be able to find out what dangerous substances are emitted in their neighbourhoods under an environmental treaty to go into effect in 17 countries in October, the United Nations said on Friday.

BELGRADE Serbia needs to enter the EU as soon as possible, but not just because of the benefits it brings, but the whole system of values, says Ivica Dačić.Speaking at a Socialist Party of Serbia rally in Belgrade, party leader Dačić said that Serbia was within touching distance of EU …

BELGRADE Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić says that Serbian industry and the tax payer will save an annual EUR 20mn thanks to visa liberalization. Đelić told daily Večernje Novosti that Serbia had to meet several more obligations by October. 

BELGRADE Political leaders from southern Serbia say the situation in the region is stable, but the state is ignoring people living in that area of the country.The latest incidents in southern Serbia were enough for Bujanovac Municipal President Šaip Kamberi to accuse the Serbian police of repression in the region. 

BELGRADE 70 percent of the National Integration Plan for the EU has been completed, the European Integration Office announced today.The government has adopted 10 out of 13 of its planned laws, equaling 77 percent, while parliament adopted 42 laws between April and June–2.8 times more than it received from the …

BUCHAREST Foreign ministers of Romania, Serbia and Hungary will gather on Saturday for the fourth ministerial meeting in Timisoara in western Romania. The meeting will be attended by Romanian Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and Hungarian Foreign Minister Balazs Peter.

SOFIA Bulgaria’s outgoing Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev announced on Friday that Iraq pledged to pump 15 billion cubic meters of gas through Nabucco pipeline starting from 2014-2015.

Bulgaria’s new Parliament is only at the stage of laying down the rules that will govern the legislature’s work for the rest of its term, but the major parties have already had their first major clash. The issue that irked the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the predominantly ethnic Turk …

TIRANA, Albania The opposition Socialist Party (SP) blamed the government Thursday (July 16th) for failing to meet EU standards for achieving visa-free travel to member countries. Three other Balkan countries did make it onto the so-called White Schengen List.