Eurasia

BULGARIA Bulgaria expects to reverse current recession and be back to economic growth in 2011, a finance ministry forecast said Wednesday. The economy is expected to contract by 6.5% this year and by 2% in the next year and grow by 3.8%, 4.8% and 5% in 2011, 2012 and 2013 …

BULGARIA The Bulgarian MPs elected members of “Stanishev” Committee, which would check up on former government’s deals and appointments, made over the last year of its term of office. The commission would be composed of 11 MPs from all parliamentary groups and would work for two months.

RUSSIA Russia asks Bulgaria to make the soonest decision concerning its participation in joint projects and is ready to supply all the necessary information, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov on Tuesday. “We understand that the new government needs time to study materials, and we will …

GREECE Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis would meet President Karolos Papoulias, Naftemporiki online edition informed. It is expected government’s speaker Evangelos Andonaros to announce information on the coming meeting. Most probably Karamanlis would ask President to set fate for early parlialmentary elections so the cabinet to issue the new budget …

BELGIUM Macedonian ambassador to Brussels, Blerim Reka, is not satisfied with the decision for Dejan Gjorsovski to be appointed special representative to the EU headquarters, Macedonian A1 television reports, citing diplomatic sources. Ambassador Reka, however, has been assured that Gjorsovski’s arrival will not put his post at risk. According to …

MACEDONIA Macedonian government has started preparing citizens for the change of country’s name, part of analyzers consider after foreign minister Antonio Miloshovski’s statement Greece would block opening of the EU accession talks. On the other side, experts interpret the statement as new “Greek veto” and as an alibi behind which …

TURKEY Turkey’s opposition parties on Tuesday criticized the government’s move to start talks on establishing diplomatic ties with the country’s long-time foe Armenia for making unilateral concession. Armenia has not changed its policy enough or implemented necessary preconditions to allow a reconciliation with Turkey, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News …

HOLLAND The new EU member states Romania and Bulgaria are still doing too little to tackle corruption and organised crime, and their management of EU funds is still below par, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes. The government will continue to press for improvements in both countries at European …

ROMANIA The Romanian government is engaged in intensive lobbying as it looks to snare a key European Commission post for the country’s former agriculture minister. Dacian Ciolos is Bucharest’s candidate for the post of EU Agriculture Commissioner, President Traian Basescu confirmed on Wednesday.Basescu stressed that Romania is willing to accept …

SERBIA EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has given his backing to the EU rule of law mission, EULEX, to sign a policing protocol with Serbia. The EULEX-Serbia protocol was delayed because of the opposition of the Kosovo government. The latter argues the agreement violated Kosovo’s constitution. The protocol, to …