TIRANA, Albania US Ambassador to Tirana John Withers stressed on Wednesday (July 15th) that it is crucial that the tallying process in the June 28th parliamentary elections is conducted in accordance with the Electoral Code. “The process has to be transparent, professional and not politicised,” Withers said. The Central Elections …

ANKARA, Turkey At least four people died and three others are missing in flooding along Turkey’s Black Sea coast, caused by days of torrential rain. According to media reports Wednesday (July 15th), two people died in the Artvin province after their house was destroyed by rising water. Two others — …

PRISTINA, Kosovo An explosion in front of the parliament building just before midnight Wednesday (July 15th) destroyed a vehicle parked there and injured a passerby. Local media reported that the vehicle belonged to the owner of a construction company, who parked it in front of some privately-owned shops. Some of …

Bosnian and many European officials have condemned the European Commission’s proposed visa-liberalization plan for the Balkans as discriminatory against Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and potentially destabilizing for entire region. “Bosnia and Herzegovina remains on the black list. People are in the ghetto because of visas,” reads the top news headline in …

Wednesday’s decision by the European Commission to recommend scrapping of EU visas for Macedonian citizens represents a genuine victory for the country and its people, the country’s prime minister said. In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski Wednesday afternoon heartily welcomed the lifting of the visa regime …

The European Commission’s decision not to grant visa-free travel to Albanian citizens has been met with little surprise in Tirana, where the issue was the subject of heated debate during the recent election campaign. Opposition leader Edi Rama, who is the mayor of Tirana, told reporters that the EU rejection …

Bulgaria lacks political will in its fight against corruption and organized crime, according to a draft of the European Union report on the country’s judiciary reform progress due to be published on July 22, Bulgarian news agencies reported. “The country is said to have made some progress in further reforming …

The European Commission’s Wednesday recommendation to grant a visa-free regime with the EU to Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, but not to Bosnia and Albania, has met strong criticism across the Balkans and elsewhere in Europe. Critics say the EU’s exclusion of Bosnia from the list sends a negative message to …

Macedonia will soon wrap up its judiciary reforms to ensure a recommendation to begin EU accession talks, senior Macedonian officials said Wednesday. At a joint press conference, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister in Charge of European AffairsVasko Naumovski and Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski vowed to speed up reforms.

In a move designed to lessen Eastern Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, Bulgaria and Greece have signed an agreement for the construction of an alternative gas pipeline in the region. The agreement comes on the heels of a Nabucco pipeline deal signed in Turkey on Monday. The Bulgarian state-owned Energy …