Eurasia

In the first case of secession brought before the ICJ, 12 of 29 countries side with Serbia, saying that Kosovo’s independence violates international law; but regardless of the final outcome, Kosovo will not return to the Serbian fold, and the entire process is likely to only exacerbate ethnic animosity, Igor …

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen will be in Belgrade this Wednesday for meetings with President Boris Tadić and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić. Ahead of his trip to Serbia, Verhagen said that he would tell Serbia’s president and government that the Netherlands was convinced Serbia had a European future and that …

Serbian President Boris Tadić says that Serbia would apply for EU candidacy when it was sure of a positive outcome. Serbia’s move would come when the nations of Europe were ready to welcome its candidacy with “open arms”, he told a conference held at the Serbian parliament, called “The EU …

Romania and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, on Tuesday reached an agreement on a draft budget for 2010, one of the main sticking points for the further disbursement of IMF-led funds. Speaking after meeting Romanian interim Finance Minister Gheorghe Pogea, IMF representative Jeffrey Franks said the next challenge is to …

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg will arrive once again in Georgia this week to negotiate the release of two teenagers detained in Tskhinvali. According to the Tbilisi Office of the Council of Europe, Hammarberg will arrive in Tbilisi this week and visit Tskhinvali. He will try to …

Romanian prime minister-designate Liviu Negoita said on Wednesday he had stepped aside to allow parties to discuss forming a majority government following President Traian Basescu’s re-election earlier this month. Basescu, who is due to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court for a new five-year term as president on Wednesday, said …

Dom naroda parlamenta BiH usvojio je jučer Zakon o agenciji za prevenciju i borbu protiv korupcije BiH, čime je ispunjen još jedan uslov za liberalizaciju viznog režima. Zakon će stupiti na snagu tek nakon usaglašavanja, pošto su Predstavnički i Dom naroda parlameta BiH usvojili dvije različite verzije.

Bosnian Croats on Tuesday slammed a bid by the top international envoy to Bosnia to end a 14-month political deadlock in an ethnically-divided town caused by the failure to elect a mayor. The Bosnian Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BIH) party said the move was directed against Croats and had been …

Members of the European Parliament from Central and Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, have announced plans to plead in Brussels for the faster accession of their countries into the eurozone. Speeches to this effect will be made in the framework of the upcoming debate between the European Parliament and the …

The newly re-elected president of Abkhazia, an unrecognized breakaway region of Georgia, Sergei Bagapsh will pay a visit to Turkey soon, citing the need to reach out to members of the Abkhaz diaspora currently living in the country. At a press conference following his landslide victory in the Abkhaz presidential …