Eurasia

The governing Democratic Party of Kosovo headed by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci wins the 15 November local elections. Meanwhile, the opposition Alliance for the Future of Kosovo has considerably strengthened its positions, Kosovo’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) announced. The candidates of the Democratic Party of Kosovo win the mayoral elections …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that Germany explicitly supports Serbia’s EU integration. After meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadic on Monday in Berlin, Merkel said “Germany believes that Serbia has fulfilled the conditions for entry into force of the Interim Trade Agreement with the European Union.”

Haris Silajdzic, the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, slammed Serbia over claims that they were the guarantors of the Dayton peace agreement which ended Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. “The Dayton agreement does not need any guarantors. Serbia was only a signatory to the agreement because of its role …

Belarusian National Assembly representatives will pay a business visit to Georgia on Nov. 17. The Georgian Parliamentary Speaker David Bakradze will receive the delegation on Nov.18

The Georgian government has taken appropriate measures due to Abkhazia transition to Russian area code, Interior Minister Deputy Nino Kalandadze reported.

Meeting with his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos in Cordoba over the weekend, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey is very optimistic about Spain’s upcoming six-month European Union term presidency starting on Jan. 1. Stating that Turkey and Spain have strategic relations, Davutoglu said that during their meeting they discussed …

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn welcomed a signing of a border arbitration agreement between Croatia and Slovenia, calling on both countries to ratify the document as soon as possible.

Besides being neighbors, Macedonia and Bulgaria are brotherly peoples, which should help each other, Bulgarian Prime Minister Bojko Borisov said on Monday after meeting Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski. “That is the reason we support visa liberalization. I will congratulate Macedonian citizens on December 19, when they will be able to …

Kosovo Police Service, KPS, has said that a decision on whether Serbian and Montenegrin nationals will need passports to enter Kosovo will be announced this week.

Now that Croatia and Slovenia have signed a deal for international arbitration to resolve a long-running border dispute, assuming the deal makes it past public reluctance and opposition accusations of treason, it’s a win-win situation for local politics, Anes Alic writes for ISN Security Watch. Neighbors Slovenia and Croatia have …