Eurasia News

US Vice-President Joseph Biden arrived in Belgrade at 10am local time, on the second leg of his three-day Balkan tour. Biden arrived in Air Force 2, escorted by a squadron of Serbian Army MIG fighters, the BETA news agency reported. 

Moldova’s government accused Romania on Tuesday of wanting to annex the country and called on the EU to mediate in order to rein in Bucharest’s “aggressive policy”. “Since Moldova’s declaration of independence, Romanian leaders have spoken more than once without ambiguity about the inevitable absorption of Moldova by Romania…, the …

Bahrain has become the 60th state to recognise Kovoso’s independence. “Considering the cultural and religious ties between the two nations and the respect to the will for independence of the people of Kosovo, Bahrain decides to recognise Kosovo’s independence,” read a statement from Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as reported …

Macedonia is well on the way to being granted a full visa liberalisation for travel to the EU, local media said Wednesday citing an unnamed diplomatic source. The European Commission’s assessment of whether the countries in the Western Balkans have fulfilled the requirements for the abolition of the visa regime …

The UN mediator in the Athens-Skopje name row, Matthew Nimetz will probably visit both countries by June-end in a renewed effort to find a solution to the on-going spat, Greek media say. Nimetz has not confirmed the reports. Wednesday’s edition of Greek daily “To Vima” says that Nimetz will only …

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, says abolishing the EU visa regime for Serbian citizens is possible by the end of 2009. In an interview with the daily ‘Blic’ newspaper he said: “The time has come to do everything to bring down the borders that separate the Balkan countries …

US Vice President Joseph Biden landed at Sarajevo’s airport on Tuesday early morning, officially kicking off his three-day tour of the Balkans. Aboard the Vice President’s Boeing 757, code-named “Air Force 2,” Joe Biden landed shortly before 5:00 am local time, traveling directly from Greensborough, North Carolina, where he held …

EU foreign ministers discussed plans for the final closure of the EU’s peacekeeping mission, EUFOR, in Bosnia, citing a stable security situation in the country. At a regular monthly meeting in Brussels on Monday foreign ministers agreed to move ahead with plans for EUFOR’s transition to “a non-executive capacity-building and …

ZAGREB, Croatia The senior ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and its coalition partners managed to win the most votes in 14 counties in Sunday’s (May 17th) local elections. Preliminary results from the State Electoral Commission suggest the leading opposition party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), claimed victory in five counties, …

TIRANA, Albania The country has not done enough to meet the requirements for abolishing the visa regime with the EU, local media reported on Sunday (May 17th), citing a report by the European Commission. The document officially appears on Monday.