January, 2012

• 12 January

  New Bosnian PM sets EU as top priority

  Bosnian lawmakers backed Vjekoslav Bevanda as the country’s new prime minister on Thursday, while a complete government is expected to be appointed next week. Bevanda was supported in the State Parliament by 31 votes; two MPs voted against him and three abstained.

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• 12 January

  EP Foreign Affairs Committee supports Serbia’s EU candidate status

  The European Parliament (EP) Foreign Affairs Committee supported Thursday the draft resolution urging approval of Serbia’s EU candidate status in March. MEPs also requested the start of the EU accession negotiations, primarily on the chapters regarding rule of law and judiciary.

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• 12 January

  EP Rapporteur for Serbia says the country deserves candidate status

  European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur Jelko Kacin stated Wednesday Serbia deserved both the candidate status and a date for the beginning of the talks. He added that it was important for the most significant agreements in the dialogue with Priština to be implemented.

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• 12 January

  Bulgaria condemns Turkish assimilation during communist regime

  The Bulgarian Parliament in a landmark move on Wednesday condemned the forced assimilation policy implemented against Turks in Bulgaria during the 1980s by the former communist regime. Parliament adopted a declaration on Wednesday that condemned the assimilation campaign

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• 12 January

  Albanians urged to join Kosovo border protest

  Kosovo’s Self-Determination Movement says it expects mass support from Albanians on January 14 for its planned action on border crossings with Serbia. Speaking in Tirana on Wednesday, the Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) leader

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• 12 January

  Serbia denied access to Kosovo Minister

  Kosovo’s Minister of Diaspora has been denied entry into Serbia, where he was headed to meet local Albanian leaders. Minister Ibrahim Makolli, who was heading to the mainly ethnic Albanian Presevo Valley area of southern

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• 11 January

  Serbian President says Kosovo can be solved only with international support

  Serbian President Boris Tadić says the Kosovo problem needs a creative solution that would satisfy interests of Serbs, Albanians and interests of great powers. “We need to find allies in this process. This problem has been internationalized and so

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• 11 January

  Hashim Thaci says border protest will end soon

  Threat to block the borders poses violent threat to country’s institutions, Hashim Thaci says, urging people not to respond to Self-Determination’s plans for Saturday. Hashim Thaci, has called on people not to respond to opposition calls to

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• 11 January

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Greece is first priority

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday the euro zone’s top priority for the beginning of 2012 was to secure a second aid package for Greece. “The euro zone’s first obligation this year is to resolve a second Greek programme and finalise these negotiations with the banks so that we …

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• 11 January

  Bulgaria’s Parliament rejects resolution on Armenian genocide

  The latest attempt by Bulgarian ultra-nationalist party Ataka to ask the country’s Parliament to recognise the Armenian genocide was defeated in the House on January 11 2012. Vehemently rejected as historically valid by Turkey, the “Armenian genocide” refers

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