Eurasia

Kosovo Parliament to Ratify EULEX Deal

Parliament on Friday is expected to ratify Kosovo’s first bilateral agreement with the EU, extending the mandate of the EU rule of law mission, EULEX, till June 2014.The European Union has accepted Kosovo’s invitation to continue the mandate of its rule of law mission, BIRN sources said. The EU High …

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Macedonian Army Law Reveals Ethnic Split Among MPs

A debate in parliament over a controversial law on armed forces exposed predictable divisions between ethnic Macedonians who support it and Albanians who oppose it.The law, put forward by the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party, concerns the rights of members of the Macedonian armed forces who fought in the 2001 …

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EU: Serbia Does Not Have to Recognize Kosovo

Enlargement Commissioner repeats that Belgrade and Pristina must normalise ties – but Serbia’s diplomatic recognition of Kosovo is not crucial to its EU integration.The EU Enlargement Commissioner, Stefan Fuele, has denied that the European Union will inist on Serbia’s recognition of Kosovo before it can join the organization.

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Eurozone Creditors Demand Greece Go To A 6-Day Work Week

Greece’s eurozone creditors are demanding that the government in Athens introduce a six-day working week as part of the stiff terms for the country’s second bailout. The demand is contained in a leaked letter from the “troika” of the country’s lenders, the European commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary …

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Bosnian Serbs Shrug Off Socialist International Snub

The main Bosnian Serb party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, has sounded a defiant note following its exclusion from the Socialist International.The Executive Secretary of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, Rajko Vasic, led by the Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, said the party will not go into …

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Nikolic and Putin to Confer on Gas Pipeline

The two presidents are meeting in Russia to discuss the future of the South Stream pipeline, which will run through Serbia.For the second time since he was elected Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolic is paying a visit to Russia, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on September …

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Europeans to Observe Montenegrin Election

The parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE, is to send an observers’ mission to Montenegro – thus being the second international body to announce that it is monitoring the elections along with the OSCE.A team of 11 PACE parliamentarians are to observe the general elections in Montenegro, scheduled …

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Macedonian Lustration Again Disputed Before Court

Macedonia’s new Lustration Law, aimed at rooting out former police collaborators, may encounter the fate as the previous one, as key provisions are again contested before the Constitutional Court.Macedonia’s Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and a retired lawyer, Stamen Filipov – in two separate motions filed to the court on …

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EU Censures Bosnia For Missing Reform Deadline

Two senior Brussels officials on Monday criticised Bosnia for not keeping to the first EU deadline laid out in the so-called Road Map, relating to the Sejdic-Finci case.The Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Fule, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, on Monday said that Bosnia had …

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