BELGRADE, Serbia — The government on Monday (March 23rd) asked the European Commission (EC) to advance it 120m euros from the pre-accession funds already earmarked for Serbia. Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic met with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn in an attempt to reach agreement on the issue.

NICOSIA, Cyprus – President Demetris Christofias expressed concern on Monday (March 23rd) that election results in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) may harm ongoing reunification talks between the two Cypriot communities.

ANKARA, Turkey – Police arrested a senior military officer Monday (March 23rd) as part of an investigation of alleged killings of Kurds by Turkish security forces in the 1990s. They detained Colonel Cemal Temizoz in the central city of Kayseri, where he commands the local paramilitary gendarmerie.

TIRANA, Albania – Former Defence Minister Fatmir Mediu’s lawyers have sued General Prosecutor Ina Rama for allegedly disclosing information from the investigation of the deadly blasts last year in Gerdec, media reported on Monday (March 23rd). Mediu is among 28 officials charged in connection with the March 2008 ammunition depot …

MITROVICA – An Albanian group has filed a lawsuit against parallel structures set up to administer ethnic Serbs within Kosovo. Serbia had lost control over Kosovo, which it still claims as its southern district, after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) bombing in 1999. That followed a period of repression …

ZAGREB – The Croatian government will on Wednesday unveil a set of spending cuts needed to fix this year’s strained budget and reassure foreign lenders ahead of a Eurobond issue planed in April or May. As part of its anti-recession efforts, the government is likely to cut salaries of around …

MOSCOW – The first film about last August’s war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia is to be broadcast on Russian television at primetime on Sunday. The made-for-TV movie, directed by Igor Voloshin, is called “Olympus Inferno” and tells the story of a Michael, a young Russian-American entomologist who …

Sofia is in talks with Moscow for securing temporary financing for the planned EUR 4.0 B nuclear power plant at Belene, for which Bulgaria contracted Russia’s Atomstroyexport. The statement was made by Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio and confirmed earlier reports. Speaking …

Bulgarian and the United States mark Tuesday the fiftieth anniversary of unbroken diplomatic relations. Diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and the US were established back in 1901 with an exchange of legacies. On September 19, 1903, the accreditation letters of the first American diplomat, John Jackson, were accepted. For the first …

The Bulgarian government has asked EU member states to send “experienced” diplomats to hold “key positions” in the administration in order to help boost reforms in the country. But the unusual proposal has been rebuffed by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, who said the Bulgarians should carry out the …