Eurasia

After nearly all votes from the Croatian presidential elections had been counted late on Sunday, the country’s electoral commission announced that a run-off will have to be called between the leftist opposition candidate and the long-time mayor of Zagreb. Preliminary results of the presidential elections held on Sunday put Ivo …

„Evoluţiile din R. Moldova îmi întăresc convingerea că nu mai este multă vreme până când toţi românii vor împărtăşi acelaşi destin european” (Traian Băsescu, discurs de învestitură pentru al doilea mandat, 21.12.09) Cronologic, anul 2009 se termină la 31 decembrie. Structural însă, nu. Anul anticomunismului basarabean depăşeşte, politic şi geopolitic, …

Edin Arnaut, bivši direktor ugašene zeničke Industrije mesa “Zmajevac” koji je zatvorsku kaznu izbjegao zbog zastare, pokušava na Ekonomskom fakultetu u Zenici prijaviti odbranu doktorske disertacije iako ju je Naučnonastavno vijeće ocijenilo neprihvatljivom. Arnaut je u dva navrata osuđivan na zatvorsku kaznu zbog zloupotrebe položaja ali je, u konačnici, oslobođen …

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović said that Podgorica will not wait to establish diplomatic relations with Priština. “There should be no more hiding behind alibis, with expectations that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague will give some kind of explicit negation of the total policies of the …

Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu sent a Christmas card to Pope Benedict and urged Vatican to recognize Kosovo’s independence as soon as possible. “Citizens of Kosovo can hardly wait Vatican to recognize their country. Vatican is an example of peace, harmony and good ethnic relations and I hope next year Vatican …

Serbia’s EU membership by 2014 is less than probable because of the long procedure and the unfinished cooperation with Hague Tribunal, Serbian Deputy PM Bozidar Djelic said. However, he believes that Serbia can reach EU candidate status very soon. Djelic pointed out that Serbia won’t change its position regarding Kosovo …

Euro-enthusiasm, not euro-skepticism, prevails in Macedonia given the fact that 95.96 percent of population hails the European Union, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said. “We met the Copenhagen criteria, the criteria that must be met by countries aspiring to join the bloc. However, we were not allowed to start the EU …

Although the name issue is unsolved, Greek borders will be officially opened for citizens of Macedonia on Saturday. Macedonian PM gave himself the credit for visa liberalization, adding that the only necessary document for Greece would be a piece of paper, which would get stamped at Greek customs. Greek Minister …

Russia and Bulgaria plan to start talks on replacing a natural-gas supply contract that expires next year, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said after meeting his Bulgarian counterpart Traicho Traikov in Moscow. 

Turkey’s foreign minister says peace between Ankara, Azerbaijan and Armenia is “close” after a meeting with his Azeri counterpart. Ahmet Davutoglu said: “I think an impetus was created recently, and all sides, not only Azerbaijan and Armenia but also the Minsk group have to do their best to