Eurasia

Antonis Samaras was elected the new leader of Greece’s conservative New Democracy party, succeeding former prime minister Costas Karamanlis who stepped down after ND’s crushing defeat in general elections.

Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze said official Tbilisi is “tremendously worried” about Russia’s possible purchase of French helicopter carrier amphibious assault warships.

The European Union has liberalized Monday the visa regime for Serbs. The decision of lifting of the visa regime has been voted by the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council, and will come into force on December 19. Serbs can travel without visas in almost EU member states, except for …

Romania’s minority parties have thrown their support behind Mircea Geoana, further boosting the Social Democratic Party’s candidate in the forthcoming presidential electoral run-off. Geoana on Saturday signed a political agreement with leader of the representatives of the national minorities in Romania’s Parliament Varujan Pambuccian for his support.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, sent a letter to the heads of government of EU member states seeking their support for Macedonia’s EU accession bid. In the letter announced on Sunday the Prime Minister expressed hope that EU member states, meeting under the auspices of the EU Council on 7 December, …

The International Court of Justice, ICJ, will this Tuesday begin hearing Serbia’s challenge against Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence. Both Serbia and Kosovo voice optimism about the outcome, claiming they will present strong evidence to support their positions. “We have reason to believe that the court will base its opinion …

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia demands opening of new border checkpoints with Greece. This is what Prime Minister of FYROM Nikola Gruevski said at a meeting with his Greek counterpart in Pili on Friday. In an statement after the meeting the Greek Prime Minister Papandreou said that Gruevski had insisted …

Serbian President Boris Tadic said that Serbia needs a different approach towards Kosovo, saying the current rigid stance is not yielding results. “A different approach is what Serbia needs today…inflexibility is one of the primary problems which we face. Innovation is needed now more than ever in reaching political decisions,” …

There were no significant steps forward in the Athens-Skopje “name” row. But there were signs of improved bilateral relations after the prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia, George Papandreou and Nikola Gruevski, met on Friday afternoon in Greece near their bilateral border. “We were told that Greece keeps positions… so …

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, today announced the portfolios responsibilities for the next Commission. The President has held detailed consultations with all the Commissioners-designate in order to assign the right jobs to the right people. The President believes that this team can deliver the agenda for change …