Incumbent President Traian Basescu was officially certified Wednesday by the Constitutional Court for a new five-year tenure as head of state. “The Constitutional Court in the name of the law ruled: Traian Basescu is validated President of Romania,” said Ioan Vida, the court’s chairman.
Read More »Dutch FM to meet Jeremić, Tadić
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen will be in Belgrade this Wednesday for meetings with President Boris Tadić and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić. Ahead of his trip to Serbia, Verhagen said that he would tell Serbia’s president and government that the Netherlands was convinced Serbia had a European future and that …
Read More »Tadić on timing of EU candidacy
Serbian President Boris Tadić says that Serbia would apply for EU candidacy when it was sure of a positive outcome. Serbia’s move would come when the nations of Europe were ready to welcome its candidacy with “open arms”, he told a conference held at the Serbian parliament, called “The EU …
Read More »Romania, IMF Agree on 2010 Draft Budget
Romania and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, on Tuesday reached an agreement on a draft budget for 2010, one of the main sticking points for the further disbursement of IMF-led funds. Speaking after meeting Romanian interim Finance Minister Gheorghe Pogea, IMF representative Jeffrey Franks said the next challenge is to …
Read More »Council of Europe commissioner once again heads to in Tbilisi
Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg will arrive once again in Georgia this week to negotiate the release of two teenagers detained in Tskhinvali. According to the Tbilisi Office of the Council of Europe, Hammarberg will arrive in Tbilisi this week and visit Tskhinvali. He will try to …
Read More »Romania PM-designate quits to allow cabinet talks
Romanian prime minister-designate Liviu Negoita said on Wednesday he had stepped aside to allow parties to discuss forming a majority government following President Traian Basescu’s re-election earlier this month. Basescu, who is due to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court for a new five-year term as president on Wednesday, said …
Read More »Croats slam bid to end political clash in Mostar
Bosnian Croats on Tuesday slammed a bid by the top international envoy to Bosnia to end a 14-month political deadlock in an ethnically-divided town caused by the failure to elect a mayor. The Bosnian Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BIH) party said the move was directed against Croats and had been …
Read More »Bulgaria Urges Brussels to Speed up Eurozone Entry
Members of the European Parliament from Central and Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, have announced plans to plead in Brussels for the faster accession of their countries into the eurozone. Speeches to this effect will be made in the framework of the upcoming debate between the European Parliament and the …
Read More »President of breakaway Abkhazia to visit Turkey
The newly re-elected president of Abkhazia, an unrecognized breakaway region of Georgia, Sergei Bagapsh will pay a visit to Turkey soon, citing the need to reach out to members of the Abkhaz diaspora currently living in the country. At a press conference following his landslide victory in the Abkhaz presidential …
Read More »Bucharest: Romania shows interest in South Stream
Romania is ready to replace Bulgaria in the Russian-Italian gas pipeline project South Stream, a formal statement of Bucharest’s economy ministry reads. Romania’s only condition is that Gazprom sticks to the local regulations while constructing the facility. At the same time, Romania confirmed its participation in the Nabucco pipeline project, …
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