Eurasia

Turkish President Abdullah Gül has said that Turkey’s accession to the European Union is a strategic imperative for the European integration project, which he said will no doubt increase the 27-nation bloc’s efficiency, relevance and credibility.

Members of the European Parliament will debate on Tuesday the extension of Europe’s borderless Schengen zone to the newest members of the EU club, Bulgaria and Romania. The MEPs will vote on Wednesday.

Representatives from the European Commission and institutions from Bosnia-Herzegovina recently met in Brussels to discuss the process of integration of the country and its progress with fulfilling the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SSA).

President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik met with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 6 2011. EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele on Monday opened a dialogue aimed at examining the work of the judiciary in Bosnia

Chief UN prosecutor Serge Brammertz has said that Croatia is cooperating with the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but missing military documents have yet to be delivered.

At the trial of Radovan Karadzic, a witness says that Bosniak civilians were deported from Grbavica, Sarajevo in 1992, while Karadzic maintains that the crimes committed there were not organised. Prosecution witness Radomir Neskovic, former Vice President of the Executive Board with the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, explained that members …

Bulgarian president Georgi Purvanov said that Bulgaria would support any compromise in Macedonia’s name dispute but the search for a “geographic” name – acceptable to all sides – might cause tension in Bulgaria.

Russia and Ukraine are strongly determined to resume the full-scale process of political settlement of the Transnistrian problem, Russian Federation’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov stated at a news conference following his meeting with his Ukrainian colleague, Minister of Foreign Affairs Konstantin Grishenko, in Odessa (Ukraine) this past weekend.

Serbian PM Mirko Cvetković met in Nicosia today with Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias during a visit “intended to improve relations between the two counties”. Cvetković laid a wreath at the statue of former Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios III.

Turkey says it opposes the candidacy of Austria’s former foreign minister to become the next secretary general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Turkey’s foreign ministry said Saturday it can’t support Ursula Plassnik because she opposes Turkey’s bid to become a full member of the European Union. …