The president of Maldives, Muhamed Nashid, has ordered police to investigate allegations that government officials accepted a $2 million bribe to recognise Kosovo as independent, media in the Maldives and Serbia reported. The allegations were made at the beginning of March by the opposition Islamic Democratic Party.

Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Zapatero has reaffirmed that Spain will not recognise Kosovo as independent, newspapers in Kosovo and Serbia reported on March 10 2009. “Spain’s position on the unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence is known – it is non-recognition,” Zapatero was quoted as saying by Kosovo daily Koha …

Two years after the European Union’s last enlargement brought Bulgaria and Romania into the European bloc in 2007, the EU’s appeal in the immediate neighbourhood seems to be on the wane. Applicant and potential applicant countries, always the most enthusiastic supporters of EU integration, are becoming less so as domestic …