April, 2009

• 30 April

  KFOR, Serbs in northern Kosovo reach agreement on Brdjani conflict

  PRISTINA, Kosovo Serbs in Mitrovica and KFOR commanders agreed on Tuesday (April 28th) that peacekeeping troops blocking the roads to the Brdjani district will withdraw. KFOR personnel will leave, while Serbs and Albanians, involved in sporadic clashes since Friday, will be able to return to their homes.

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• 30 April

  Croatia seeks foreign aid to reform its judiciary

  ZAGREB, Croatia Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic asked foreign donors Tuesday (April 28th) to help the country finance projects aimed at reforming the judiciary, a key precondition for eventual EU accession. Presenting projects worth about 42m euros through 2012, Simonovic asked the donors to help reduce the number of local courts …

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• 30 April

  Romania assures EU it will not grant mass citizenship to Moldovans

  BUCHAREST, Romania Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu says he assured EU officials that Romania has no plans to grant mass citizenship to Moldovans. Returning on Tuesday (April 28th) from a meeting of the EU’s General Affairs and External Relations Council in Luxembourg, Diaconescu said Bucharest has guaranteed a case-by-case assessment in …

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• 30 April

  Kosachev says PACE makes errors in South Caucasus

  MOSCOW Chairman of the State Duma committee on international affairs Konstantin Kosachev said on Wednesday PACE insistence to politicize the situation related to South Ossetia and Georgia in its resolution on humanitarian issues was erroneous. He also told Vesti TV channel PACE is taking no concrete action and is only …

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• 30 April

  Russia to help SOssetia, Abkhazia protect borders

  MOSCOW Russia will help South Ossetia and Abkhazia to protect their borders against a feared new Georgian attack that Tbilisi may be heartened to launch after a NATO exercise next month. On Thursday Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his counterparts from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Eduard Kokoity and Sergei Bagapsh, …

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• 30 April

  Moldova says EU raises “iron curtain”

  CHISINAU Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said on Thursday the European Union was raising an “iron curtain” against his citizens by allowing them to freely travel in Europe only with Romanian passports. 

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• 30 April

  President Medvedev: Bulgaria Relations Back on Track

  Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev’s delayed meeting with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev took place late Tuesday in the Barbihka residence near Moscow. The half-hour meeting took place after the two delegations from Russia and Bulgaria had finished day long talks in Moscow. Medvedev informed Stanishev that he was aware of the …

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• 30 April

  Bulgaria President: Belene Nuclear Plant Can’t Be Frozen over Crisis

  Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov said Wednesday the Belene Nuclear Power Plant could be build with loans from Russia, if necessary. “It is not very easy to find credits for such a large-scale project as our second nuclear power plant in times of global financial crisis. We should not exclude the …

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• 30 April

  Balkan States Tally Obama’s First 100 Days

  The new US administration’s first one hundred day anniversary – coinciding with still unconfirmed news that Vice-President Joe Biden will visit the Balkans in May – has been greeted with mixed feelings and still great expectations among the countries in the region. “Biden’s visit will above all be a good …

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• 30 April

  Macedonian President: Name Must be Solved

  Outgoing Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski has warned that while a solution to his country’s long standing spat over its name with Greece may not be popular, a deal is essential and will bring long term positive results. Drawing a parallel with the Ohrid agreement of 2001 which ended the armed …

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