Montenegro

Diplomatic relations with Montenegro will return to normal if Podgorica re-examines its decision to recognize Kosovo, says Serbian MFA’s political director. Beta news agency reports that Borislav Stefanović made the comments for state broadcaster RTS on Monday night, and that he added that Belgrade “could not act as if nothing …

Montenegro and Kosovo have established diplomatic ties with an exchange of letters of foreign ministers, the government in Podgorica announced today. Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Roćen said in his letter that he expects the position of the Montenegrin community in Kosovo to be permanently solved, and that as this issue …

EU Foreign Policy High Representative Catherine Ashton says the future of Western Balkans will be one of the priorities of her activities. Ashton also and pointed out that she wants for the whole region to progress towards the Union in the future. In a speech before MPs of the Foreign …

Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos said on Friday (January 8th) that Spain will continue talks on the EU accession of Balkan countries. Moratinos, who will preside over the European Foreign Policy Council over the next six months said that talks with Croatia will continue. Four more chapters in Turkey’s EU accession …

EU senior officials for foreign policies and enlargement, Catherine Ashton and Stefan Fule, said that the integration of the Western Balkans must be supported. Ashton, who is the EU official for EU foreign and security policies, and Fule, the European Commissioner for policies towards new member-states and cooperation with Eastern …

Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will soon join the Schengen zone, former EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. Solana stressed that regional co-operation and peace in the Balkans are critical to the region, and added that its prospects lie not in division but in European integration. He also …

Ministry for Kosovo State Secretary Oliver Ivanović said that Montenegro should think hard before establishing diplomatic relations with Kosovo. “They have at least 30 percent of their population considering themselves to be Serbs and are adamantly against the decision. It is not good to have that many dissatisfied people on …

Montenegrin top officials disagree on the timing of when the country should establish diplomatic links with Kosovo, with some arguing that a swift exchange of ambassadros may hinder Podgorica’s relations with Serbia Montenegro recognised Kosovo’s independence on 9 October, 2008, one day after the UN General Assembly accepted Serbia’s draft …

Filip Vujanović says that he will sign a decree appointing an ambassador to Priština “once Kosovo recognizes Montenegrins as an ethnic minority”. “I am convinced that this issue needs to be addressed before we appoint ambassadors, because it is correct toward our community in Kosovo. It would also be a …

Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister Svetozar Marović said that Serbia’s success in European integration will help the entire region’s goals of EU accession. He said that the visa liberalization for Serbia, Montenegrin and Macedonian citizens confirms these countries are on a good path towards the EU and are achieving concrete results …