Eurasia

EU foreign ministers postponed a decision for the start of accession talks with Macedonia, after Greece opposed an early start to the talks. EU foreign ministers discussed the issue of Macedonia until late Monday in an attempt to find a breakthrough with Greece, postponing a press conference that had been …

Albania’s Democratic Party and its government allies are expected to hold a major rally in Tirana on Tuesday, commemorating students’ protest in 1991 that are considered to have been the beginning of the end of the former Stalinist regime.   However, for most local observers the rally is seen as …

The public hearing in the Kosovo case is set to continue today in The Hague for the sixth day. After yesterday’s arguments presented by China – the first permanent member of the UN Security Council to participate in the proceedings – today the judges will hear the arguments of Russia …

Deputy Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to Georgia Anita Schluchter was summoned to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, the ministry reported. The Georgian side passed a note of protest to the Swiss diplomat for the following submission of the note to the Russian side in connection with the visit of the …

Nenad Malić was sentenced on Monday in Belgrade to 13 years in prison for the murder of two Muslim civilians in Bosnia. The charged against his also included the attempted murder of another Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) in Stari Majdan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, in 1992.

The preparations for Croatia’s accession deal with EU will begin during December. The EU board members decided to open workshop groups, responsible for the preparation of Croatia’s accession deal. Croatia accepted the Sweden’s recommendation and began with the preparations with accession deal.

Georgia welcomes the restoration of the NATO-Russia Council format. “Russia’s participation is important, if we want a joint security formula,” Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said at a traditional briefing today. According to her, the NATO-Russia Council format will be an additional lever of dialogue with Russia for the …

Georgian Parliamentary Vice Speaker Paata Davitaia called on the government to develop a package of proposals on the introduction of U.S. and NATO patrol ships into the Black Sea.

REC Caucasus Regional Conference – “LEAPs is SEA proof! Seven Years of Experience in Local Environmental Planning in the South Caucasus” was organized by REC Caucasus on December 4, 2009 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The event aimed to summarize all LEAPs projects implemented by REC Caucasus since 2003, assess the result …

Romania’s presidential election generally observed international standards but information on alleged irregularities need to be investigated, OSCE mission chief Vadim Zhdanovich said Monday.