Eurasia

The finance ministry announced on Wednesday (May 12th) that Greece received 5.5 billion euros from the IMF as part of the international aid to help the country overcome its financial crisis. The money will be used to repay part of the country’s huge debt. In other news, Greece’s two main …

The European Commission (EC) is pressing BiH to approve a law on holding a population census across both entities. The head of the EC delegation to BiH, Dimitris Kourkoulas, said on Wednesday (May 12th) that Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele and Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn have sent a …

The foreign ministry announced on Wednesday (May 12th) that Romania and the United States held a round of technical talks Tuesday on Bucharest’s inclusion in the proposed US missile defence shield for Europe. The Supreme Defence Council decided in February that Romania should join the shield project and host components …

Talk of a timeline for Cypriot reunification from the United Nations’ secretary-general would represent an important success in the peace process, according to a Turkish diplomat. Mentioning – even indirectly – a timeline for the completion of the talks by [U.N. Secretary-General] Mr. Ban Ki-moon in his to-be-released Goodwill Mission …

The European Commission on Wednesday concluded Romania is not yet prepared to join the euro area, citing a series of legal incompatibilities along the mandatory criteria for adopting the European common currency. In its 2010 convergence report, the Commission said Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden …

EU Special Representative for South Caucasus Peter Semneby, who is on visit to Tbilisi, met with Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze. The sides discussed priority directions of the Georgia-EU cooperation, the ministry said.

Hague Chief Serge Brammertz had a meeting with President of the Serbian National Council for Cooperation Rasim Ljajić on Thursday. Brammertz will also confer with Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević later in the day.

About 200 Romanian unionists are protesting Thursday outside the presidential palace in Bucharest and call on the president and government to resign because of the austerity plan authorities announced. About 300 other unionists are picketing the Government headquarters.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha will visit Macedonia later this month, Albanian media quote government sources as saying. During the stay in Skopje, Berisha is expected to reiterate Albania’s support to peace and stability in Macedonia. The same sources said Albanian prime minister and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski are …

Georgia, Azerbaijan and Romania have signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint venture (JV) on the project of a new way of transporting Azerbaijani gas to Europe yesterday. Tbilisi hosted a ministerial on the implementation of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Romanian project on the transportation of Azerbaijani liquefied natural gas to …