Croatia’s accession to the European Union will offer a new hope for the entire western Balkan region, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said after meeting his Croatian counterpart Gordan Jandrokovic on Monday. “The accession treaty will be signed in December, ahead of Christmas,” said Sikorski, whose

European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia, Jelko Kacin, said on Monday that along with EU candidate status, Serbia should also get a date for the beginning of negotiations. He pointed out, however, that in order to make progress in the Euro-integration process, the country needed to resolve the issue of Kosovo.

NATO has repeatedly stated the Karabakh settlement issue to be outside of the Alliance’s scope, Romanian ambassador to Armenia said. “This, however, does not mean NATO is not concerned over the issue,” Crina Prunariu told a news conference in Yerevan.