Balkans

PRISTINA, Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu on Sunday (April 26th) appealed to Kosovo Serbs to return to their homes and to contribute to the overall development of society. “They [Serbs] will have the support of both Kosovo and international institutions.

PODGORICA, Montenegro The country has achieved “quite impressive” results on its road to EU membership, Leopold Maurer, the head of the European Commission delegation to Podgorica, said on Sunday (April 26th). He added that while progress in the visa liberalisation process is obvious, more remains to be done.

ATHENS, Greece The justice ministry tabled a draft law in parliament Friday (April 24th) imposing stricter sanctions on demonstrators wearing hoods or masks. The new measure is part of government efforts to fight a recent wave of street violence that has plagued the country since December 2008, when a police …

NICOSIA, Cyprus Hundreds of Greek Cypriots gathered in Nicosia’s central Eleftheria Square on Saturday (April 25th) to protest the recent acquittals of ten police officers accused of brutally beating two students in December 2005. The citizen movement Alert, which vowed to continue protesting until authorities punish the officers, organised the …

GROZNY About 90 Chechens living in Georgia have requested refugee status since January to allow them to return to Chechnya, the head of the Russian republic’s migration department said Tuesday. “Our department has received about 90 applications from Georgian residents requesting visas and other documentation to return to Russia. These …

MOSCOW Bulgaria’s Head of Government Sergei Stanishev is to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev here on Tuesday and is to hold talks with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The implementation of strategic joint energy projects will be the main subject of discussion at the upcoming talks. The Kremlin press service …

American Vice President Joe Biden, will begin a diplomatic tour throughout the Balkans, to kick-off in May, media sources reported today. According to Kosovo’s public station Radio Television Kosovo, Biden will begin his visit in Pristina, scheduled sometime between May 17 -21. The Serbian daily, Blic, also reported a visit …

The Bosnian Parliament has adopted, in its first reading, a law envisaging better protection of local farmers against imported goods from neighbouring countries. If confirmed, this law could violate regional the CEFTA free trade agreement. “Customs are being imposed on goods from Croatia and Serbia,” read the front-page title in …

The European Union urged both Slovenia and Croatia to find the solution to the border dispute, which would unblock Zagreb’s attempts to meet deadlines for EU accession. “We underline the urgency attached to this issue since the whole time-line is at stake and there are implications not only for Croatia …

The Special Advisor for EU enlargement, Erhard Busek, said that the Schengen visa regime could be abolished by the end of the year for Serbian citizens. The same announcement came from Serbian Interor Minister, Ivica Dacic. “The abolishment of visas is supposed to occur during the Swedish EU presidency in …