July, 2009

• 16 July

  Deadly floods swamp northeastern Turkey

  ANKARA, Turkey At least four people died and three others are missing in flooding along Turkey’s Black Sea coast, caused by days of torrential rain. According to media reports Wednesday (July 15th), two people died in the Artvin province after their house was destroyed by rising water. Two others — …

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• 16 July

  Blast outside Kosovo parliament causes damage

  PRISTINA, Kosovo An explosion in front of the parliament building just before midnight Wednesday (July 15th) destroyed a vehicle parked there and injured a passerby. Local media reported that the vehicle belonged to the owner of a construction company, who parked it in front of some privately-owned shops. Some of …

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• 16 July

  EU Visa Plan Leaves Bosnia ‘Isolated’

  Bosnian and many European officials have condemned the European Commission’s proposed visa-liberalization plan for the Balkans as discriminatory against Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and potentially destabilizing for entire region. “Bosnia and Herzegovina remains on the black list. People are in the ghetto because of visas,” reads the top news headline in …

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• 16 July

  Macedonia Heralds EU Visa Victory

  Wednesday’s decision by the European Commission to recommend scrapping of EU visas for Macedonian citizens represents a genuine victory for the country and its people, the country’s prime minister said. In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski Wednesday afternoon heartily welcomed the lifting of the visa regime …

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• 16 July

  Albania: Mixed Reactions Over EU`s Visa Decision

  The European Commission’s decision not to grant visa-free travel to Albanian citizens has been met with little surprise in Tirana, where the issue was the subject of heated debate during the recent election campaign. Opposition leader Edi Rama, who is the mayor of Tirana, told reporters that the EU rejection …

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• 16 July

  EU: Bulgaria Lacks Will To Fight Corruption

  Bulgaria lacks political will in its fight against corruption and organized crime, according to a draft of the European Union report on the country’s judiciary reform progress due to be published on July 22, Bulgarian news agencies reported. “The country is said to have made some progress in further reforming …

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• 15 July

  Bosnia: EU Visa Decision Major ‘Political Blunder’

  The European Commission’s Wednesday recommendation to grant a visa-free regime with the EU to Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, but not to Bosnia and Albania, has met strong criticism across the Balkans and elsewhere in Europe. Critics say the EU’s exclusion of Bosnia from the list sends a negative message to …

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• 15 July

  Macedonia Vows To Wrap Up EU Reforms

  Macedonia will soon wrap up its judiciary reforms to ensure a recommendation to begin EU accession talks, senior Macedonian officials said Wednesday. At a joint press conference, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister in Charge of European AffairsVasko Naumovski and Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski vowed to speed up reforms.

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• 15 July

  Bulgaria, Greece Sign Gas Pipeline Deal

  In a move designed to lessen Eastern Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, Bulgaria and Greece have signed an agreement for the construction of an alternative gas pipeline in the region. The agreement comes on the heels of a Nabucco pipeline deal signed in Turkey on Monday. The Bulgarian state-owned Energy …

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• 15 July

  EU Plans To Drop Visas For Three Balkan States

  The European Commission proposed on Wednesday letting citizens of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, which have been promised eventual EU membership, travel to the European Union without visas from Jan. 1. The EU executive said it hoped to make a similar proposal for Albania and Bosnia by the middle of next …

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