Eurasia

The United Nations war crimes tribunal set up in the wake of the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s will need more time to complete its work after originally being scheduled to wind down at the end of this year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

UN envoy to Cyprus Alexander Downer rejected media speculation Monday (March 15th) about an upcoming international conference on Cyprus. According to the reports, the meeting would discuss the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, which regulates

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged the EU on Monday (March 15th) to end visa requirements for Turkish citizens. The request came during a meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, who was visiting Ankara for the first time since being elected to the post. The EU lifted visa requirements …

The Albanian government completed nine more chapters of the European Commission’s wide-ranging questionnaire Monday (March 15th), a requirement for Albania’s application for EU candidate status to be considered. This makes a total of 30 chapters completed, with five more to go. The government hopes to wrap those up by the …

European Parliament (EP) member Jelko Kacin has sent a letter to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele saying that Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has met all technical conditions for inclusion in the EU’s visa-free regime, local media reported on Monday (March 15th). Kacin suggested …

Austrian President Heinz Fischer said on Monday (March 15th) that Croatia could wrap up its EU accession talks by the end of this year and join the bloc in 2012. After talks with visiting Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipovic, Fischer stressed that this scenario would be good for both the region …

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s recently-appointed foreign policy chief noted in her ordinary report the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is getting worse.

Georgia could sign in June an agreement that would give its citizens easier visa access to the European Union, the bloc’s president Herman Van Rompuy said on Tuesday. The deal, to be accompanied by a parallel agreement on repatriation of Georgians caught staying illegally on EU territory, would speed

Protests have continued in Greece as Euro zone finance ministers said they have agreed a way to help the cash-strapped country. Over recent weeks stringent government spending cuts have been urged by the EU bloc to deal with the country’s massive deficit.

“The identity is yours and it is not changing. Macedonia should point at the priorities like security, prosperity, setting up of the values and accession to the EU,” said the U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia Philip Reeker. Reeker made the statement at a public lecture is the FON University in Skopje.