KOSOVO Nobel laureate Marti Ahtisaari has warned the EU that the failure of Balkan and EU states to recognise Kosovo stands as a bulwark against the bloc’s future expansion. “Those countries that have been in conflict in the past have to be able to see the reality, and […] have …

ROMANIA Romanian President Traian Basescu will give a keynote speech to parliament on September 15, addressing the primary political and social issues facing the country. On Monday, the leaders of the country’s bicameral parliament decided Basescu would address the legislature on the same day the government takes responsibility for three …

KOSOVO The long-awaited statue of former President Bill Clinton will be unveiled in Pristina at the end of month, the team behind the tribute has said. Agim Rexhepi, head of the Friends of the USA asociation, which has previously hosted many events to show gratitude to the US for its …

ALBANIA Albanian opposition the Socialist Party said on Saturday that it will boycott the first session of the country’s new parliament set for Monday, Xinhua news agency reported. Opposition lawmakers met Saturday and called for an investigation into the conduct by the ruling Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha …

HOLLAND The prosecution hasn’t shown any serious intention to reduce the scope of this mega trial – Karadzic states in his letter to ICTY Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said on Friday that, due to large number of documents and testimonies he needs to read, he requires additional 14.171 …

CROATIA ‘Captain Dragan’, a man accused of war crimes, was released after three years spent in an Australian prison ‘Captain Dragan’, was released after three years spent in an Australian prison. Ivan Simonovic, Croatia’s Minister of Justice, plans to appeal against it. Dragan Vasiljkovic, better known as ‘Captain Dragan’, was …

MOLDOVA Four new states – Finland, Belgium, Switzerland and Greece – will join the Chisinau-based Common Visa Issuing Center at the start of 2010. The announcement was made during the recent Moldovan-Hungarian consultations between heads of consular departments, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the Moldovan Foreign Ministry.

MOLDOVA The leaders of the parliamentary majority Alliance for European Integration believe the probability for Moldova to have a new early parliamentary election [in early 2010] is currently estimated at fifty-fifty. On Friday, the leaderships of the AEI constituent forces – the Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party, the Democratic …

TURKEY Turkey’s foreign minister has urged his European Union counterparts to speed up the process of his country’s EU membership bid and not let the Cyprus issue stall negotiations. In an opinion piece in Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, Ahmet Davutoğlu said his country has started an “unparalleled reform” process to …

SERBIA Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić has ordered a probe after the media reported that Montenegro’s candidate for ambassador to Serbia was “unwelcome”. The “urgent investigation” will include “everyone”: from his cabinet chief to the ministry’s human resources clerks, Belgrade daily Večenje Novosti writes. But the ministry officials were not available …