Eurasia

EU observers ask to stay in Georgia as Russia digs in

Brussels – The European Union should be ready to keep some 250 observers in Georgia’s war-torn areas far beyond the autumn as Russia is blocking other international missions, the head of the EU observation team warned Thursday. At a meeting with EU ambassadors on Wednesday, Haber “recommended that the EU …

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Montenegro considers IMF agreement

Podgorica. Montenegro might apply for an International Monetary Fund /IMF/ loan provided that the country’s economic growth is between 2.5% and 0% in 2009, which is below the previous forecast of 5%, said Minister of Finance Igor Luksic. “We are nearing a very low economic growth of between 0% and …

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Czech presidency backs EU enlargement to Western Balkans

Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, expressed his support for EU enlargement by the Western Balkans countries during a March 10 2009 visit to Macedonia. “You have a graduation ahead of you in the form of elections,” Topolanek said in …

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Call for EU to prioritise press freedom in membership talks with Turkey

International Press Institute (IPI) director David Dadge met European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and other EC officials on March 9 2009 to call on the EC to make press freedom a priority in EU membership talks with Turkey. In a media statement, the IPI said that the appeal was made …

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Greek ire at Obama trip to Turkey

The announcement by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton that president Barack Obama is to visit Turkey in the next month or so sparked indignation among Greek media and prompted the country’s main opposition party to attack prime minister Costas Karamanlis government’s foreign policy as “inept and irresolute”. On March …

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Bulgaria can adopt the euro only when the crisis has passed – Finance Minister

The adoption of the euro is a secondary priority for Bulgaria to securing macroeconomic stability and a prudent fiscal policy, Finance Minister Petar Oresharski said in Brussels. In an interview with Bloomberg after a session of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin), Oresharski said that Bulgaria’s entry into the …

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Russian youths to get free tourist visas for Bulgaria

Russians aged under 18 will get free tourist visas to Bulgaria when making group visits, Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister Milen Keremedchiev was quoted as saying by Focus news agency on March 12 2009. Teachers accompanying the groups will also get a free visa provided there is one teacher for every …

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Bulgarian President Purvanov on a visit to Moldova

Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov is departing on March 12 for a two-day visit to Moldova, in accord with an official invitation from his Moldavian counterpart Vladimir Voronin, the press centre of the Presidency said on March 11 2009. Scheduled for the visit are discussions between the two leaders. Purvanov is …

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Kosovo, Serb Universities Exchange Documents

The University of Pristina has gotten back thousands of documents that were removed by the Serbs during the conflict in the late 1990s, with the help an NGO. SPARK NGO, a non-profit organisation that supports people in post-conflict regions by building the capacity of local economic and educational institutions, helped …

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Bulgaria’s Economy Grew 6% in 2008

Bulgaria’s economy grew by an annual rate of six per cent in 2008, making the country the fastest growing economy in the European Union. The annual growth figure was dragged lower by slower growth of 3.5 per cent in the forth quarter, half the rate of growth that was recorded …

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