Balkans

EU Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg kicks off his visit to Kosovo on Thursday. Commissioner Hammarberg will observe the situation of minorities in Kosovo, among which Serbs and Gorans. UN statistics said that last year a total of 2500 refugees returned to Kosovo. Among them were Roma people, who …

The financial woes of Greece and other eurozone member states are set to dominate Today’s EU summit in Brussels. Late on Wednesday, Europe’s underfire socialist leaders gathered to work out their response to the debt crisis.

The parliament of Bosnia’s Serb dominated entity, Republika Srpska, adopted a controversial law on referendum late on Wednesday. The law has been described by the international community as provocative and potentially unconstitutional.

The European Parliament (EP) approved a resolution by Slovenian lawmaker Zoran Thaler on Wednesday (February 10th) which recommended the EU to set dates for start of membership talks with Macedonia. The draft was supported by 548 lawmakers, 45 voted against it and 35 abstained. The document recommended that Macedonia quickly …

International Civilian Representative Pieter Feith said on Tuesday (February 9th) that the strategy for Serb-dominated northern Kosovo will be forwarded to Belgrade authorities, though not for consultation. Austrian news agency APA reports that Feith expects it will take time for Serbia to accept it the strategy, which has the EU’s …

The European Parliament has given a positive overall verdict to Croatia and Macedonia for their efforts in the EU accession process last year. In resolutions debated and approved in Strasbourg on Wednesday, the European Parliament commended the work undertaken by the two countries, according to a parliament press release issued …

Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger will arrive in Serbia on Wednesday for a one-day official visit. He will meet with Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić, PM Mirko Cvetković and one of his deputies, Božidar Đelić. According to announcements, they will discuss the ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) …

European parliament will debate the progress that Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey have made on the road to joining the European Union. EP Committee on Foreign Affairs has adopted amendments on Macedonia’s draft-resolution, which urges EU to set a date for start of accession talks with Macedonia in March.

Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday that Albania-Turkey agreement, lifting visa requirements for natioanals of the two countries, enters into effect on Wednesday. Albanian foreign ministry said scrapping the visa obligations started on January 27th and now the citizens of both counters are entitled to visa-free travel.

Macedonia will present a structured state strategy at the coming meeting with the UN “name” mediator, Matthew Nimetz, in Skopje on February 23, President George Ivanov said. He noted that top state officials were in constant coordination with Nimetz and that Macedonian negotiator Zoran Jolevski had already forwarded him the …