Eurasia

UN envoy Alexander Downer said on Tuesday (May 4th) that talks to reunify the divided island will resume in the last week of May. Downer made the announcement after a meeting with Cypriot President Demetris Christofias in Nicosia. That followed Monday’s meeting between Downer and newly-elected Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis …

Kosovo Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni told EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele on Tuesday (May 4th) that Kosovo will participate in the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sarajevo only as an equal partner with other participants. Hyseni delivered the same message to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in Paris. The subject is …

Bulgaria and Macedonia will have new ambassadors. Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Milošoski announced that Bulgaria and Macedonia have issued consents for the new ambassadors in the two countries. “I am pleased to announce this fact. The new Macedonian Ambassador to Bulgaria is Blagoj Handziski, who has received consent …

UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS director Kori Udovicki will visit Georgia May 5-8. During the three-day visit she will meet with representatives of the Georgian government, political parties, international organizations and civil society, the UN’s office told Trend.

Bosnians will head to the polls on October 3 in what has been described as a crucial post-war general election, with the outcome likely determining wether the country will move forward on its EU path or remain stuck in political deadlock.

Both private and public sector trade unions are staging a general strike in Greece, the latter for 48 hours, to protest against the government’s austerity plans. It is against the backdrop of a black wednesday for the euro, hit by financial worries the Greek crisis may spread to other EU …

In 2009 there were around 14,200 asylum applicants from Kosovo, who sought asylum in some of 27 countries of the European Union (EU). This is according to the statistical office of the EU Eurostat, which published a report that said applicants from Kosovo make up five percent of the total …

The trial of former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadžić continues on Wednesday before the Hague tribunal with more witness testimonies. The prosecution’s fifth witness will be former Sky News reporter Aernhout van Lynden, after which former EU mission chief in Bosnia-Herzegovina Colm Doyle will take the stand.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is chairing the 12th Council of Ministers of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, AII, which began in Ancona, Italy on Wednesday. The Council, which brings together the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Italy, is aimed at preparing an EU …

Members of the European Parliament meeting in Brussels with their Albanian counterparts did not succeed in attempts to help find a compromise between representatives of the Albanian ruling and opposition parties. The two sides notably failed to produce a final declaration, which is generally issued at such meetings.