GEORGIA Visiting Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze met Friday with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian. “Armenia welcomes contacts which underlie further development of mutually beneficial relations,” Minister Nalbandian said. The two men discussed Gyumri-Akhalthikhe-Bavra-Batumi highway construction, process of delimitation of the Armenian-Georgian border and energy cooperation. They also signed a …
Read More »Turkish FM Davutoglu due to Georgia
GEORGIA Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will travel to Georgia on September 7-8 on an official trip, Anadolu news agency reported. In a press release issued on Friday, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said that Davutoglu would be in Georgia upon an invitation by his Georgian counterpart Grigol …
Read More »German conservative regrets gaffe over Romanians
ROMANIA A senior figure in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party faced criticism Friday for comments at an election rally in which he appeared to disparage Romanian workers. An amateur video posted on YouTube and aired by several German media outlets showed Juergen Ruettgers, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state, saying …
Read More »Rumyana Zheleva: Bulgaria is unable to cast its problems away
BULGARIA In an interview with The Capital Weekly Rumyana Zheleva, Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs explained that Bulgaria entered the EU with deficits in two fields – justice and home affairs. In due time problems occurred with the appropriation of EU funds. Somehow those problems intertwined leading to its bad …
Read More »Only 39% of ISPA money absorbed
BULGARIA Only 39% of the ISPA money has been absorbed over the last nine years and the 2010 deadline is just round the corner. This is what the Minister of Transport Alexander Tsvetkov announced. Minister Tsvetkov pointed out the percentage for OP Transport was 1.5%. In his words, Bulgaria needed …
Read More »Bulgaria Transport Minister: ISPA Funds Absorption Questionable
BULGARIA There is a real risk that Bulgaria will fail to absorb the EU ISPA program funds, according to Transport Minister, Alexander Tsvetkov. Tsvetkov spoke Friday, during the regularly scheduled Parliamentary Control session, in response to question coming from his predecessor, Petar Mutafchiev.
Read More »New Government to be in place this month – Speaker
MOLDOVA The new Government of the Republic of Moldova shall be formed all right by the end of September, Parliament Chairman Mihai Ghimpu stated in his interview with Jurnal de Chişinău newspaper that was published today. He explained, the majority parliamentary coalition has not yet discussed a concrete personal composition …
Read More »Russia recognizes new Moldovan authorities
MOLDOVA Andrei Nesterenko, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman, has stated at a briefing in Moscow on Thursday the official Moscow hopes the new Parliament of Moldova will manage to prevent a possible political crisis in the republic. Asked to comment the forthcoming stepping down of Vladimir Voronin as President of …
Read More »Lack of a quorum in Parliament
MOLDOVA Lack of a quorum did not permit a plenary sitting of the Moldovan Parliament to take place today. In the morning, only the Communist Party faction of 48 came to the session room, while all the 53 deputies of the governing Alliance for European Integration (AEI) ignored the event, …
Read More »Talat: Turkish Cypriots have alternatives
TURKEY Discussions picked up speed on both sides as Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias announced Thursday that he would meet Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat for a second round of talks. Talat said Turkish Cypriots have other alternatives to consider if the Greek Cypriots “refuse resolution as they did …
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