Eurasia

The European Commission recommendation that Macedonian citizens be allowed to enter Schengen countries visa-free from January 1 2010 has caused a drop in demand for Bulgarian passports, Skopje-based Dnevnik said on July 17 2009. Macedonia is being given the concession along with two other Western Balkans states, Serbia and Montenegro.

TIRANA Nearly a week after parliamentary elections, Albania’s governing Democratic Party began to assemble a coalition government on Saturday, even as the opposition Socialists decried the move as premature.

GENEVA European citizens will be able to find out what dangerous substances are emitted in their neighbourhoods under an environmental treaty to go into effect in 17 countries in October, the United Nations said on Friday.

BAILE TUSNAD Romanian President Traian Basescu was treated to boos and hisses as he spoke during an open university event organized for his country’s ethnic Hungarians. Those gathered in the town of Baile Tusnad reacted negatively to his statement that Romania is a national, united, sovereign and independent state.

BELGRADE Serbia needs to enter the EU as soon as possible, but not just because of the benefits it brings, but the whole system of values, says Ivica Dačić.Speaking at a Socialist Party of Serbia rally in Belgrade, party leader Dačić said that Serbia was within touching distance of EU …

BELGRADE Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić says that Serbian industry and the tax payer will save an annual EUR 20mn thanks to visa liberalization. Đelić told daily Večernje Novosti that Serbia had to meet several more obligations by October. 

BELGRADE Political leaders from southern Serbia say the situation in the region is stable, but the state is ignoring people living in that area of the country.The latest incidents in southern Serbia were enough for Bujanovac Municipal President Šaip Kamberi to accuse the Serbian police of repression in the region. 

BELGRADE 70 percent of the National Integration Plan for the EU has been completed, the European Integration Office announced today.The government has adopted 10 out of 13 of its planned laws, equaling 77 percent, while parliament adopted 42 laws between April and June–2.8 times more than it received from the …

Ukraine has promised to raise household gas prices and enforce payment of bills to strengthen its national gas company and help it secure loans to avert a new gas crisis with Russia, an EU official said today. Kiev hoped the pledge would boost the chances of progress at talks today …

TBILISI Georgian opposition leader and former U.N. ambassador Irakly Alasania launched his own political party on Thursday, saying long-standing protests demanding the Georgian president’s resignation were not in vain.