Eurasia

SERBIA Interior Minister Ivica Dačić and OSCE Mission Chief Hans Ola Urstad have signed an agreement on a strategic partnership and priorities in police reform. Dačić said that the agreement was important for visa liberalization, as the strategy it contains will enable the implementation of all the remaining criteria from …

SERBIA, KOSOVO The EU supports the signing of an agreement on technical cooperation between EULEX and Belgrade, and is now explaining the benefits of the deal to Priština. EU sources told Beta in Brussels today that this was the thrust of EULEX official Karin Lindahl’s statement, who stressed that the …

KOSOVO In a ceremony held at KFOR HQ in Priština on Tuesday, German General Markus Bentler took over as commander of the NATO-led force in Kosovo. He replaced Italian General Giuseppe Emilio Gay. The outgoing commander said that a gradual reduction of NATO members would not mean the end of …

ALBANIA Fatmir Sejdiu has promised the families of missing Albanians that he will use his authority to order the identification of human remains as soon as possible. The Kosovo president is the first provincial official to visit the mothers of missing persons, who have been striking in front of the …

SERBIA The Special Court in Belgrade has sentenced four Wahhabi to a total of 27 years in prison. Adis Murić and Bajram Aslani were sentenced to eight years, Nedžad Bulić to seven, and Enes Mujanović to four years. The group was accused of criminal association with a view to unconstitutional …

GEORGIA The first conference of a new project ‘Movement for Fair Georgia’ – ‘Georgia tomorrow’ on ‘What must be Georgian foreign policy?’ is held in ‘Tori’ hotel of Tbilisi. Leaders of the movement, representatives of regional offices and famous experts participate in the meeting. The meeting is held to discuss …

GEORGIA The chairmen of the Georgian parliamentary committees on Foreign Relations and Integration with Europe will visit Turkey in November to promote inter-parliamentary relations. This agreement was reached during a meeting between the Georgian Speaker of Parliament, David Bakradze, and the Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davudoglu. Davudoglu also noted the …

ROMANIA In a statement to the country, Romanian prime minister Emil Boc has said the government has decided to dismiss as many as 8500 public servants, as part of the restructuring scheme, which aims to trim government agencies and make them more cost efficient as well as productive. As a …

BULGARIA Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov expressed concern about what he called the lack of competence that the new Cabinet and Prime Minister Boiko Borissov have shown about the country’s energy policy and asked Borissov to take a firm stand when dealing with Russia and energy giant Gazprom. In an article …

BULGARIA SAPARD program would be part of the talks at high level between Bulgarian Prime Minister (PM) Boyko Borisov and the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. Thus political trust, which Bulgaria has expected, would come from the highest level, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva said.