Eurasia Press & News

After strongly contesting the appointment of the head of the international election monitoring team, the Albanian Central Electoral Commission on Thursday approved her appointment, along with a further 39 long-term observers. The centre-right government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha had earlier objected to Ambassador Audrey Glover’s appointment as head of …

The US Congress Wednesday passed a resolution on Bosnia and Herzegovina, calling for an appointment of a new US special envoy and continued constitutional reform in the troubled country. The prospect of renewed US focus on the country has sparked immediate reactions within Bosnia, and threatens to trigger a fresh …

The EU’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday that it is likely that Macedonia gets a date for the start of accession talks this year. “I think this is very likely and it is very possible,” Solana said in Brussels. Solana was meeting with Macedonia’s new president Georgi Ivanov, …

All the computers and the radar of the state plane carrying Premier Nikola Gruevski from Brussels to Paris failed Thursday. The plane landed back safely in Brussels. Gruevski and his delegation are now trying to find an alternate way of getting in to Paris to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy, …

Questioned by journalists, Macedonia’s President Georgi Ivanov failed to clarify if Kosovo’s President Fatmir Sejdiu was invited to his inauguration ceremony held on Tuesday. “The ceremony was organised by the president of Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, which means that all invitations were sent by him,” Ivanov said in …

The US is urging Macedonia and Greece to put aside unproductive disputes over differing interpretations of history and identity when trying to find a solution to the long-running name dispute between the two countries. “The issue is about the name, that’s why we call it a “name” issue. And Macedonia …

The Union for Human Rights Party, PBDNJ, announced on Wednesday that it was dropping out of the coalition the centre-right government of Prime Minister Berisha, to join the Socialist of Tirana mayor Edi Rama ahead of the June 28 elections. Speaking in front of reporters the head of PBDNJ Vangjel …

Pieter Feith, the EU’s Special Envoy to Kosovo, says neither Belgrade nor Pristina will be able to realise their EU dreams unless they mend relations. “I’m not saying that Belgrade needs to recognise Kosovo’s independence, but there has to exist at least minimal cooperation between the two sides on issues …

The European Commission has expressed concern about the way Serbia issues its identification documents, and is concerned that passports could be given out to “all and sundry”, the Blic newspaper reports. The paper says that as a further guarantee for visa liberalisation, Brussels wants Serbia’s passport issuance system to become …

The right wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) launched a campaign for early parliamentary elections at a rally held in Nis Wednesday, calling it “Serbia’s Future Begins Today”. The SNS at the rally claimed it was going to stand for getting tougher on crime and corruption, promote decentralisation of government, and …